Broken Gates

Chapters

Magic and Memories
So, what's for breakfast?
Aurora
Going somewhere?
Leslie
Manes and Magic

Magic and Memories

A green meadow stretched seemingly endlessly away from me, a land of endless opportunity ahead. In the distance, past the grassy plains, were mountains that stood impossibly high. Somewhere beneath those mountains were towns and cities, and a collection of fine folk and families.

Wait, where am I? Wasn't I just... In the shower? I asked myself, trying to blink away the weird dream state I seemed locked into.

Behind me was my home, That's not my home! and all the memories I had lived inside growing up as a young filly. I'm not a filly!

A quiet melody drifted through the air, though I couldn't recognize the instrument responsible. I-

No! enough of that! I shook my head violently, and the peaceful green plains and blue skies vanished. A slow tumble of water pummeled me softly once more, and my mouth was again visited by the slight salt of blood, though this time diluted by water as it finally washed away.

Washed away just the the quiet brook beside me. A golden gleam caught my eyes, as a royal chariot drifted lazily through the skies. I-

NO! STOP IT! I shook my head once more, but though I couldn't see the grassy place I could certainly feel the warmth of the sun. It slowly carried me back to that day, when-

Seeing no other way to bring myself back to reality, and my present self, I flung my hoof desperately at my nose. "GAH!" I cried out, as I stumbled on the warm wet floor.

I stared straight ahead, waiting to see any signs of my sanity slipping away again before asking aloud, "The hell was that?!"

"You mean the magic, curtain closing and shower turning on? That was awesome Sis, you should do it again and find out how you-"

I cut my Sister off rudely. "No! Shut up! I just-" I searched for the correct words. "I think I just got some sort of, pony memories."

Sam flung back the curtain, a draft of cold followed her wide eyed gaze. In an impressively fluid motion, she flipped the notebook to a new page and scribbled something, probably a page title.

"Explain all of them in perfect detail! Now!" She demanded, a little more excited than I was willing to deal with right now. I glared at her, before reaching my hoof up and closing the curtain once more.

If I hadn't just experienced what could be either memories or proof of insanity, I would have been quite happy with my progress in magic control of that shower curtain. Instead my mind was running a mental scan on my experience, and trying to determine if... Well, if they were memories or proof of insanity...

I saw very ponyish landscape, and that royal chariot at the end was a dead giveaway. I may not be an expert, but I'm pretty sure those were pony memories. The question was, how did I end up with them- Scratch that, you're a pony. They may belong to whoever the previous owner of this body was. Assuming there was a previous owner and that this body and memories weren't randomly generated.

Okay Leslie, you thought about this earlier. You wondered about this already. Initiate plan 4.5 Beta. Also known as: I-DONT-ACTUALLY-HAVE-A-PLAN... I'm a very 'Plan on the go' Kind of mare. I mean guy. I think. Either way I now had to actively consider that this body didn't belong to me, meaning that there was still a chance I could go get my old body back.

It made me wonder about the original pony though. Was she out in my body somewhere? Was she secretly sharing this body with me?

Oh Celestia I'm just a broken record now. I already went through all of this, didn't I? Before I fell off the counter earlier?

Sam opened the curtains again, notebook still in hand. "What did you see. Sis?" She said the last word rather spitefully. Apparently my Sister has a natural talent for knowing what annoys me.

"Would you stop calling me Sis?"

"No."

"Could you try and understand that I am freaked out right now, and possibly terrified? I mean I know I said I was fine and better than I was earlier and still am but can YOU JUST- not?"

I took a breath, and then another.

I really needed to catch my breath and just process things for a little while. But I probably couldn't do that with Sam here.

"Okay! Alright. Sorry bro. I'll just, skedaddle for a while. Maybe call Mom and Dad and tell them their son is a mare now." Oh, you better not. I thought aggressively. "Not actually. Maybe. Probably not. I might. Later!" She slipped out of the room quietly, and closed the door behind her.

I had no idea what she was wanting to do in here anyway. And no Idea why she was so concerned this morning. It didn't seem like she was concerned I was a pony since when she saw me all she did was giggle over it. So why was she concerned this morning?

At the very least, I think I've got a handle on this voice of mine. I am completely fine with it. Yep, completely fine. "I AM SO FINE" I squeaked loudly.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I followed my advice.

Okay, status report: panicked and unrelaxed. I had to fix that. I closed my eyes, concentrating on the flowing water around me. Not concentrating like, 'wanting to do magic' concentration, but just focusing on the warmth and comfort as the warmth spilled over my fur. My ears twitched, and I heard each individual splash of every droplet-

Okay no. I don't think that's actually possible. If a pony brain is anything like a human brain, it literally wouldn't have the reaction time or be able to process the sensory information fast enough to hear the individual droplets.

I think I might be bad at the whole, 'Achieving a Zen state' thing.

Attempt two then. I inhaled deeply through my nose, trying to place the individual smells. There was the soap in the corner, minty. There was the- I sniffed again. I have identified the smell of shower. It is a smell that washes away every other smell. Too bad it smells like water. Which is to say it has no scent.

Operation 'Calm Down' was being met with mixed results. Was I calm? Yes! Was it just because I was ignoring my problems? Oh definitely.

If I wanted to calm down, I'd have to come to terms with my current situation, and accept the weird pony memories I suppressed earlier. I closed my eyes harder, and tried to once again picture the grassy meadows and blue skies of Equestria. I think it's Equestria anyway. Who knows, maybe my pony lived somewhere else.

And nothing happened. I merely got the blackness of closed eyes, and no bright sun or blue skies to keep me warm. Well, the warm water of the shower is fine, but-

A thought hit me a bit suddenly. I had received my weird vision things after I somehow 'activated' a store of magical power. Maybe all I had to do was unleash a torrent of magic once more?

Only one way to find out. I had just one question. How did I do it the first time!?

Should I have even been able to do it the first time? I thought I was a Pegasus, and yet the magicky stuff that happened seemed more like unicorn magic. There didn't seem to be any discernible reason for it to have happened either, seeing as all I had done was boop Sam's nose and try to close a curtain.

Okay, well if that was unicorn magic, lets see if I can use pegasus magic. Pegasus magic was stuff like cloud walking and manipulating water right? I was in a shower, surely I could make the water do something cool.

"Sha-bam!" I said, stomping a hoof and hoping the water would flow backwards or do something neat. Nothing happened at all. Okay, lets try rhyme! "Water... What rhymes with water? Water's flow... Go so slow?"

Nothing still. Magic could be a bit harder than the cartoon let on.

I sighed, giving up for now. I still had lots of time to figure it out, and I might as well take an actual shower while I was still here. I reached for the shampoo bottle, having no idea how I was supposed to pick it up but having no other expectation than success. A flow of energy still nondescript circled the bottle invisibly, and I lifted it from the corner of the tub.

"So why does this work?" I wondered quite loudly, trying to test to see if Samantha had snuck back into the room yet. No answer met my words, and I began to wonder how I was going to open the lid.

--- Minutes later ---

"Okay! Now we scrub behind those cute widdle ears!" Sam grinned, as I flashed the most malicious scowl I could. "Oh don't give me that, you love this."

"Not a chance. This is literally the worst moment of my life." I replied, as she scrubbed viciously. I had called Sam back into the room upon realizing that even with the most powerful arcane mastery I could never hope to know what kind of care I would have to put into washing my fur. Sam had experience washing our dog, and I didn't.

"That time you broke your wrist?"

"Sunshine and butterflies."

"The time you lost your backpack on the bus and there went all your money and ID?"

"Best day ever."

"The time you got lost in the mall and we went home without you?"

"Fish fingers and custard."

"What?"

"What? You don't get the reference?"

"Oh I do, I just didn't know you had such fun with awful days! That means this is actually the best day of your life, right?" She reversed my logic, and gave a mean tug on my mane.

"Oh yeah. Totally. Look how much fun I'm havi-AAAH!" She tugged through a knot, ripping out about forty percent of my skull. I glared at her, "So. Much. Fun."

She had probably finished with my mane by now, if not six minutes ago, but Sam was the type of girl who took very, very long showers. For all I knew I could be here for the next four months assuming a 'more hair equals more time' standard.

She began brushing out my tail again, for the third time, and I nearly jumped out right there. "How many more years is this going to take?"

"About nine." She replied in a completely serious manner. At this rate I wouldn't have to worry about telling Mom or Dad that I'd become a pony over the phone. They'd probably be home long before that.

---- A couple of minutes more ----

I lay on my side on the bottom of the tub floor, having given up on ever getting out. I wasn't in a rush to do anything anyways, and I could barely walk on my own. At the very least I had finally achieved the calm I had been searching for earlier. I certainly wasn't planning on freaking out over anything anytime soon. The slight flow of water around my fur tickled it gently, and my eyes had closed long ago. An occasional brush of a fine tooth comb teased my side, as Sam was careful to avoid my feathered wings.

Just when I thought I might fall asleep, the relaxing flow of water stopped with a trio of squeaky knobs. "So, how many millenniums have passed?" I inquired.

"It's been thirteen minutes Sis. You're really bad at keeping track of time." She sighed, standing up to go fetch a towel. I continued laying there, even as the last of the water that hadn't soaked into my fur slipped down the drain.

"Really though? Thirteen? It doesn't take that long for you to wash Mackerel. And he's usually way smellier than I am. Are you sure you put as much care into me as you usually put into our dog?"

"Sis, even though you're basically the same size now, I don't have to worry about giving Mackerel a glossy mane. I don't have to worry about whether Mackerel's tail can be braided easily and without problems so he doesn't trip on it. And most importantly..." She breathed, and I could tell the next words were going to be harsh. "That creature doesn't have wings that he is constantly using to shield himself from my brush.

Oops. "Hey, I was just, trying to learn how to maneuver them. I'm still getting used to this body you know!" I half-lied, seeing as how that was true but I HAD been actively shielding myself with them.

I finally worked on standing up, and found my hooves were a lot more co-operative than they were earlier. I stood in the tub, as an ocean of water drained from the fur that had been pressed against the floor.

Sam threw a couple of towels at me, and my vision went dark as I was ravaged by friction and soft cotton. One towel scrubbing later, I was a tad fluffier than before. I wasn't on the level of Fluffle Puff quite yet, but I was certainly on the scale.

Sam hung up the towels, as I hopped gently over the edge of the tub. Again I was surprised at just how silent and spring-loaded my hooves were.

"Okay. So you just gave your seventeen year old brother a bath. I hope you feel like a creep." I remarked, trotting my way to the door.

"Hey, you're the one who asked for it, becoming a helpless pony and all."

"Oh, I was just so willing to go through all this. So much choice on my part."

"Yeah yeah. Technically I gave my Sister a bath, and my friends will confirm they shared the bath with their younger sisters growing up."

"Yeah, growing up. So, you know. Not anywhere close to our ages." I trotted out the door, thinking I was the victor of the conversation. It was when I had made it three steps down the hall that I realized I had forgotten to- "And I'm your brother! Stop that!" I called back.

"You keep thinking that Sis. It will only result in confusion in your later life."

Whatever, as if I'm gonna stay like this forever. Some nagging doubts tried to assault my brain and remind me I had no way of knowing that I wouldn't stay like this forever. Nuh-uh nagging doubts, I just had a shower! I am clean mentally and physically, and you shall nag me no more! Somehow that worked, and I began to think other thoughts about how I was coming along with my walking.

I looked down, and my hooves proceeded without issue in a straight line at a speed half-way to decent. I was a well oiled walking machine, I was unstoppable!

Believe it or not, I got stopped.

A sudden tug at the place just beyond my butt that I now knew as the nerves attached to my tailbone told me I had just tripped on my still excessively long tail. The ground came up to meet my poor nose once more, and I slammed my hooves forwards hopefully. My head tilted to the left, but it was too late! The ground was inches away, and my nose was-

A sudden tug at the nape of my neck caught me, and I froze up like a cat. It was quite surprising how hard it was to make myself move all of a sudden.

"I told you I still have to re-braid your tail and everything. You are now being returned to the bathroom." Sam informed me, picking me up and leaving me still paralyzed in that cat like grip.

Well, it's not the grip that's cat like. It's just the way Sam is holding me is how most people, the ones who don't handle cats nicely, handle cats. My tail was curled up, but the vibrations traveled up the fur and let my tailbone know just how far away the ground was. My wings attempted to spread out, but Sam already setting me back down on the counter so I closed them up again.

Nice to see I've already gotten most of the knowledge down on how to move myself and my body. Was it only this morning I couldn't even figure out how to move my tail or ears? I flicked both simultaneously, quite satisfied with myself.

I went back to watching my expression in the mirror, and spent a while getting lost in those huge pony eyes while Sam folded and twirled my tail and mane. They were such a lovely purple, but if you looked deeper you could see they faded to an almost red in some parts, and almost blue in others.

Strangest of all though, was that they didn't look like young filly eyes, but rather old-people eyes. The type of eyes that have seen tales untold, terrible and wondrous things, and things that-

Or maybe I was just reading into it too much because I wasn't used to seeing such large eyes on any creature, much less myself.

"All done! Now hold still while I grab a picture." Sam requested, though I wasn't having any pictures just yet. I stepped forwards just as I had before, and once more my legs, wings, and tail all worked smoothly to ensure a perfect and silent landing.

I began trotting my way through the door and down the hall once more, leaving Sam with a rather exasperated expression.

Before I knew it, I was at the staircase leading into the living room, and beyond that the kitchen. somewhere past the kitchen was a door, that led to the backyard. Why did I want to go there? Because outside meant a chance to finally try and learn how these darn wings worked.

And who wouldn't want to learn how to fly?

Before I could do anything else however, I felt a slight complaint of hunger from my belly. I had no idea what type of food I was craving, but food was food and I wanted food.

The only obstacle that lay ahead of me was the most dreaded obstacle I ever found in a pony transformation fanfic. The Stairs of death and desperation.

So I cheated. "Hey Sam, you can have my picture if you carry me downstairs. Please?" I turned around slowly to face her, putting on my most begging and cutesy face.

"Your picture? Why would I want-" She noticed my attempt at being adorable, and nodded slowly. "Hmm, I could want pictures of my 'Sis' being humiliatingly adorable. I could always use a bit of blackmail." She admitted.

I dropped the puppy dog eyes and the pout. "Okay, never mind. I'm going to have to tumble down and break every bone I have."

Sam was distracted, "Maybe I can force you to wear a dress too! Those would be the best pictures ever! What do you think 'Sis'?"

"I will destroy everything you love." I responded bitterly. Sam began laughing again, evidently hearing those words come from a three foot tall creature that originated from a cartoon about friendship (And magic) was probably one of the more silly things she had ever seen.

Okay, if I can't get her to do it through bribery, I will have to force her hand through... I wasn't quite sure. How would I get my Sister to carry me down stairs with out throwing away every shred of dignity?

Aha! I turned around entirely, and slowly began trotting down the stairs dangerously. Not even one hoof at a time, but moving every hoof at once.

Sam noticed my reckless decent down the stairs. "Aaaah! Hold it!" She took a quick step forward, and scooped me up onto her shoulder. She sped down the stairs at the quickest pace I had traveled at the whole day. I had barely made it down two steps, which was probably a good thing, considering I had just begun to feel my balance slipping away when Sam had snatched me up.

On her way to the kitchen, she plopped me into the computer chair, instructing me to, "See if anything new has happened since this morning."

She strode into the kitchen, and disappeared from sight. I rotated my insanely stretchy neck, which had been facing nearly completely backwards, and squinted my eyes against the bright computer screen.

The living room was a dark contrast to the bright hallways of upstairs, and it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the monitor. But when they did, I was a little unnerved by the news page before me.

Free poker online! WHOA! Hold everything! Get it? Hold? Texas, Hold 'em? Anyway, I moved my hoof to try and find the mouse, which was much father away than I was used to.

I rotated myself to the left, falling forelegs first out of the chair. stepping around it, I gently put a hoof on the height lever, raising the chair to it's maximum height. I stepped back, and took a mighty leap, (For a three foot equine,) into the chair. It spun around violently as I clung to the seat desperately, my wing locked around one of the arm rests. It slowed and then stopped, and I slowly struggled to my hooves.

And... Aw feathers. I'm backwards. I realized. Wait, feathers? I- Aha! I spread my wings gently, then fluttered just the left one until I was facing the monitor again. I raised a single hoof dramatically, and laid it to rest upon the mouse, which was now an optimal distance for my adorably short hooves.

Well, not really short. Just not quite as long as the human arms I'm used to. I'm sure that my forelegs are miles longer than the average pony. I moved the mouse, the magical flow of energy encapsulating the mouse with almost no effort on my part this time.

If only I could figure out how it worked I would be quite content with my magical aptitude.

Alright, now let's go check where I can see what's happening to everypony. I mean, what? I mean everybody. I slid the mouse across the mouse pad, and somehow clicked the red x on the advertisement Sam had left open.

"Aha! it was a 'Rainbow Dash Presents' animation she was watching last night." I confirmed.

"You betcha!" I heard the response from the kitchen.

I closed the tab, I didn't feel like 'My Little Dashie' was a good inspiration for my Sister to learn pony-care from. The next animation was another 'RDP'. Cupcakes. That's even worse pony-care techniques! Do not want!

I ended up closing all the tabs and just opening up a new browsing window. The Google logo had a pony inspired icon today, good job Google.

Now where should I go? Facebook? Probably being spammed with 'Imma dorable pny pls liek' posts. I need to get better friends. Where else then? Tumblr? Twitter? Reddit?

I decided on Twitter, because it would probably contain the most sane people. Probably. I clicked a few times on our bookmarks bar, and wondered how far I would get if I needed to use the keyboard.

Oh no. It wants me to login. What the hay am I supposed to- The hay? Okay, why did I keep using various pony words in my mind? I had been ignoring it up until now, but it had been an issue stirring at the back of my mind for a while. Okay lets try to say everypony. I mean everyone. Wait, no. That right there is what I'm talking about.

I would be less weirded out if it only happened when I spoke aloud, but an invasion of my thoughts was just wrong.

Sam returned from the kitchen, asking, "So, whatcha want for breakfast?" She asked with a smile.

"Something with Alfredo sauce. Its that or waffles. With strawberries." I requested, wondering what types of things I should eat. What sorts of food could my digestive system handle? Should I aim for sugary treats like the Pink pony of fame? Or should I stick to daisy sandwiches and other floral things?

I tilted to the left once more, and clambered out of my chair. Sam followed me with a quizzical look as I marched my way into the kitchen. An array of decisions had been laid out by Sam, from muffin mix, to frozen spinach lasagna, to a jar of pickles.

"Did you just... Take everything you could find out of the fridge?" I asked, though a glance at the still ajar fridge door confirmed that.

"Well, everything except meaty things. Since, you know, I figured you don't really have the teeth or digestive system for that anymore."

"What about the lasagna?"

"Spinach and cheese only! No meat to be found."

"Then why did we buy it to begin with? Everyone in this family is a meat lover."

"That... Is a really good question. I mean I'd still eat it, but you know, I'm the black sheep."

"Oh, you're the black sheep? Pretty sure I'm the only intelligent quadruped in this family." Really though, I was pretty sure I've always been the black sheep of the family. Sam always was fine with everyone else, or at least as far as I knew.

"Hey, don't you talk down about our dog like that, he's way smarter than you!"

"And I'm sure that he's smarter than you as well."

"Maybe, but I'm not a quadruped."

"Well then I am the black sheep here!"

"Nope! I'm the black sheep since at this point I'm the only child left who isn't a pegasus!"

"What? What do you even mean by that! You're the only human left and therefore its a bad thing?" I was honestly confused. I guess I hadn't exactly explained to Sam just how hard it was to deal with so much being different, and she was still jealous of my being a pony.

"Yeah! Think about it, someone asks Dad what his kids are like. 'Oh, my younger daughter is a pegasus! She can fly and for some reason do magic!' And the other guy is all, 'Oh that's cool, what's the older one like?' And Dad is all: 'Well, she's just a boring human. You don't wanna hear about her!'" Sam finished with an exhausted breath and a growl.

"Wow... I didn't know you were that jealous Sis. You know it's really not that great being a pony-" She cut me off quickly.

"Not that great? You've only been awake as a pony for like, maybe an hour, and you've already figured out how to move shower curtains WITH YOUR MIND. Do you not know how amazing that is? Do you not know how lucky you are to get this kind of opportunity? And then you released a wave of magic that turned on the shower to the perfect temperature and even though you don't know how you did it, you should know that its impressive! My showers are almost never the right temperature!" She paused for a breath, evidently having a lot more feeling about this than I thought she did. "And you've pretty much mastered walking within the first thirty minutes! If you had found the news articles on Facebook you would have found that some people have been ponies for hours and they haven't figured out standing! You're a damn prodigy at this, and it's pretty much all I've wanted in life, and you dare to say it isn't that nice!"

Okay. Wow. I- Apparently I'm a prodigy? That's news to me. Darn it, I thought Facebook was mostly nothing but spam! I forgot that the half that wasn't spam was probably useful.

Equally important news was that Sam wasn't just jealous, she was downright upset.

"Okay, I enjoy being trapped in a small female horse's body with no idea why this is happening to me and occasionally being assaulted with memories that aren't mine and saying things I don't mean to say! Sure I have magical powers and could probably even fly if I spend weeks and weeks learning how, but in the mean time I'm probably going to be terrified that I've lost my mind when I suddenly ask if you can braid my mane. Or when I try and use magic I start seeing visions of things that I really shouldn't." I raved, glad I had somewhat excuses on my behalf to not be having the time of my life. Since I'm not even sure this is entirely my life anymore.

"SO we're both angry at this entire situation, and would rather have it reversed?" Sam inquired in such a way that made me wonder if she knew a way to make that possible.

"Oh, I am so angry at this situation, and would love nothing more than to see you in my horse-shoes." This time I had actually meant to use a ponified version of the phrase. If it was going to happen anyway might as well have some control over exactly what I was saying.

"Then it's settled!" Sam proclaimed. "There's nothing either of us can do about that, so lets forget the entire thing and make some breakfast already! Are you with me Sis?"

"Yeah! Lets do it! Wait hold on what?" I responded with a tilt of my head. Sam was never good at keeping up an argument or staying mad at people, she was always far too keen on keeping the peace.

"Perfect! Pancakes it is! Help me grab a mixing bowl!"

Some part of me, probably the ponyish part, though maybe the human part, was a little surprised at how quickly the situation had mellowed out. That's the way it works from now on with me and Sam pony and or human self! We get mad, yell a bit, let each other know how we feel, and nod. No point being angry about things we can't change anyway.

Sam waltzed over to the fridge, pulling eggs from the top shelf. I lamented on how I was no longer tall enough to reach the top shelf. It's like I'm a child again. I realized, and I began to wonder how old the pony I had turned into was. I think I'm physically a few years younger than Leslie wa- Than I was as a human. Making me not quite a filly, but not quite a mare either. teenage pony, sweet.

Being a teenage pony was fine with me, the only thing that worried me was the thought that didn't quite make sense. A mis-thought, I decided to call it. I am Leslie, why am I referring to myself as a separate person? I shook my head somewhat violently, and my stomach rumbled quietly. Oh yeah! Food is a thing, I should check on how Sam is progressing.

By now Sam had put away most of the other food, and all that remained was the materials required to make pancakes. Blue berries, eggs, milk, water, stirring spoon, frying pan, and the pancake mix itself. The only thing missing was a mixing bowl.

Hang on, did ponies eat eggs? They were meat weren't they? "Uh, Sam? About the eggs." I inquired. She looked at me and I shook my head.

She took the hint, sighed, and put them back. Our pancakes would be crumbly today, but that was fine with me.

Taking the initiative, I slid my way over to a cupboard to the right of the sink, and barely noticed the ease which I was able to create a flow of magic that tugged it open. One day I swear I will figure out how I'm doing that! A large black glass mixing bowl lay before me, but I didn't quite trust my magical prowess to the point of trying to lift glass just yet.

Sam stepped over me, giving me a reminder of just how small I was right now, and reached down for the glass bowl. She leaned back, standing up and carefully trying to-

Yeowch! One of her feet caught on my tail, and I reflexively skittered backwards. Sam staggered momentarily, and I watched in horror as the glass bowl slipped from her hands.

I wish I could stop that. I thought, reaching towards the falling glass hopelessly. Or at least I thought it was hopelessly, but then I got a familiar taste of pomegranate.

It looked like time was slowing down for a few seconds, as the glass bowl stopped inches away from the floor. But a faint shimmer of purple around it was the only visual indicator Sam needed to know she could feel free to recover the bowl.

I certainly wasn't able to do anything, I was too busy being overwhelmed by the shock of exposure to pure magic. I couldn't move at all, and I could tell my eyes were glowing again due to a visible brightness on the slight blur that was my nose.

The unexplainable sensation was back in full, and this time it was staying more than a half second.

It wasn't something my mind could comprehend successfully, that much was obvious. But I could understand what I was sensing. It was the flow and movement of magic, of life. It had no color, but it was the most vibrant thing imaginable. It moved slowly, but freely. It was a bazillion times greater than me, but somehow my will to not let a glass bowl break had changed it, made it flow where it wouldn't normally, and alter the physical world.

My head began to hurt. A lot. I wasn't quite sure how to break out of it, and Sam was trying and failing to pluck the bowl from its floating spot in mid-air.

Okay, looks like I have to find a way to cut it off somehow. Break my connection with magic. I tried to move my hoof, but it was paralyzed. It was like trying to wake up from a dream.

Sam was asking me something, but it didn't seem that my ears were working any more. My head, it was- A buzz of pain. I was beginning to think my skull had split apart while I wasn't looking.

I need to stop this! NOW! AGHHH! The pain began to intensify, and the dull buzz was quickly becoming a loud yell, and then next thing I knew it was a piercing scream.

I shook my head violently, and everything stopped. Sound returned to me, and my head stopped screaming. I waggled my hoof, and brought it back to the floor. "That hurt a lot more than it should have. I probably should stick to pegasus style magic for a while." I found myself saying, no longer caring who or where the wise words were coming from and just being glad that my head wasn't in pain anymore.

Sam placed the bowl safely on the counter, her eyes wide with surprise. Oh, she's the surprised one?

"So, are you okay? You looked a little hurt there, like you had a paper cut on your eye."

"It felt- Actually yeah, that's about the right level of pain."

"Didn't you get a sudden rush of pony memories last time you used magic like that? Got anything?"

Not yet, though I was beginning to stagger a little bit. I looked to my left and- Whoa! Who put that wall there! Oh wait, that's the floor. I think I just fell over. I certainly felt a little bit dizzy. Maybe I should just close my eyes for a little bit. I'll deal with whatever memories when they get here.

"Hey! Are you okay? You look really bad! Should I call an ambulance or something?" I heard Sam cry, getting genuinely concerned just a little too late.

Everything faded to a dark black as I lost consciousness once more. My last thoughts were: I hope the pancakes are done when I wake up again, I really am getting kind of hungry.

Author's Note

Oh gosh. I actually got a chapter done and it hasn't even been a full two months. What is this.

This one is a bit fast paced near the end, so later on when I'm re-editing everything I'll probably have to space it out a bit more.

In the mean time, let me know what you think or post any critiques you may have~!

So, what's for breakfast?

Sensations came back to me quite slowly.

First feeling returned to my ears, which gave a single twitch.

I was still less than half-conscious, barely aware of who or what I was. Some part of my mind tried to put together the puzzle pieces that were my life at the moment. My ears twitched again, but I couldn't quite yet understand if I was actually hearing anything.

Something fuzzy brushed the underside of my hoof as my muscles moved gently, trying to remove the cramps of the tense position I had just been collapsed into. Finally feeling returned to the rest of my body, and I once again returned to feeling wrong and unsure of myself. My hearing was working, but my brain wasn't processing; all I heard was just fluff and feathers.

"And" My ears picked up a clear word for once, though not a very useful one. Everything else was still background noise as my body twitched back to life.

Well, not back to life, but back to the standard style of living usually referred to as consciousness. A single spasm of pain echoed through my stomach, as I tried to open my eyes.

Or maybe I did die, this is certainly an unusual amount of pain. More than I typically go through in a day. I found myself thinking, but not quite remembering just yet who I was or why I was in pain.

Did I have some sort of amnesia? Did the strain of magic on my body cause actual damage?

Hold on, magic damage. That's a memory, I need to latch on to that and figure out where to go from there. My body was still twitching every now and then, but the pain had passed for now. A quiet muttering left the room as I tried to process my thoughts.

I used magic. I made a glass bowl hover above the ground before it could smash. And then- Someone had picked it up, but my mind wasn't providing an answer as to who. Was it me? No, someone I knew. Someone I trusted. Where was she?

It's a she? Oh, yeah! Of course it's a she! Samantha! My- Sister? Somehow Sister didn't seem like the right word. I ravaged my memory, trying to determine why. Samantha was my Sister, and I was-

A pony. Wait, so if I'm a pony, how is Samantha my sis- I changed. Oh yeah! Okay, keep it up, get those memories flowing. Sister doesn't sound right when Sam calls me 'Sis', that must be it. I'm not supposed to be a mare! Okay, progress! My Sis is named Samantha, and I am- I didn't remember.

OH come on! I have to remember my name, it's been with me all my life! It's the one thing I refuse to forget! It had to be there, I had to have a name.

The name my mind returned was unfamiliar, but I was certain it was mine. I opened my eyes, finding myself in a lavender room. My room. I was on my bed. The bed that I've had for two years.

Had it been that long? It felt like I got the bed only a couple of weeks ago. It didn't feel like mine usually was, it was far more comfy.

The room was warm around me, and completely dark. Either someone had closed my blinds or the sun had gone down while I wasn't looking.

I closed my eyes, letting Luna's night carry me off to sleep once more. This bed was unusually large, but it sure was comfortable. I furled my wings around myself, drifting off.

And time passed.

No. My mind called out, as I began to wake up again.

Something is still wrong. Something is very wrong. I tried to open my eyes, but I seemed to be exhausted. I wasn't sure how long I slept for but it was certainly much too long. Luna's night? That's wrong, why is that wrong? It sounded right, save for one little detail. I'm... Not a pony. Oh yeah.

Which means that I shouldn't be thinking like one. I should be thinking like myself. I am human. I live on Earth. The nights here don't belong to Luna. I began to try and fight my eyes back open, though by now I had probably been asleep for at least an hour or more. My eyes finally opened, and I closed them again quickly. Someone had left my lights on. Maybe I should go back to sleep? I don't think there's anything pressing I need to be doing right now. Sleep felt nice, I was good at sleep. I began to tilt back on my side and- I found myself shaking my head violently for the third time that day, assuming it was the same day. Earlier I was shaking off pony thoughts. Memories that shouldn't be mine. I remembered. They had seemed just as wrong as my desire to sleep now seemed.

"I am a human. I am not a pony. I am not going to break down or lose my identity or anything crazy, I am going to keep my human memories." I attempted to convince myself.

The stomach pain from earlier visited once more, as I realized it was hunger. I should go seek out something to chew on, find out if I like hay or not now. Do ponies like me eat hay? That sounds kinda boring as a food. I'd rather stick with pasta or something.

I forced my eyes open against the bright lights of the room, turning my head towards the door. I noticed that someone had cleaned up the pile of clothes on my floor, and I had a clear path to the door.

My eyes tried to close on me one last time. No, stop that. I'm not even tired. My body was done with trying to sleep, and if it wasn't then I certainly wasn't going to let it get any more.

Where had Sam gone?

I had passed out, and here I was in bed. Shouldn't she have taken me to a hospital or something? No, I guess I would be going to a veterinarian now, being a pony and all.

The hospitals would probably be overflowing right now with people hoping for a cure to their ponyism anyway. Sam would have known that at wouldn't have even bothered taking me to a hospital. How would we get there anyway? Was she going to carry me, or would we just walk? She could always borrow a car from a friend, but who do we know that actually owns their own car?

Maybe I could have flown there, I am a pegasus after all. If only it was that easy, it would probably take months or more of practice for me to learn how to use these wings for anything aside from short glides.

For some reason, my mind decided that didn't sound right. Haven't I used these wings before? I was pretty sure I had. I was pretty sure I hadn't. But I'm a pegasus! Why wouldn't I use my wings? My mind asked, as if assured that I had been a pegasus for at least one lifetime. Haven't I? I'm Aurora Drift, I fly all the time, I'm a pegasus.

No.

That is not right. I am a po- human. A human. I repeated, My name is Aur- Aurora- No! Stop that! "My name is Au- LESLIE!" I found myself shrieking in frustration at my own thoughts. "My name is- Aurora Drift?" I tried one last time, my mouth giving me the wrong name again. Or was it the right name? I growled in frustration, throwing myself off of the bed.

If I had thought it bad earlier when I was merely recalling pony memories, I was in for a surprise. The pony had become part of my sub-conscious.

Would this continue until I lost all of my original humanity? Would I begin losing memories if I didn't fight for them? I didn't want to start being a pony completely ~~just yet~~ at all! I hadn't even wanted to be a pony! My life had been fine with the direction it was going, I still had friends to stay friends with at school! I still had a Sister who I refused to abandon after everything she'd done for me. What was the point of EVERYTHING if I just lost my memories and became some random pegasus who would never know everything I struggled through? Everything that I had gone through growing up with that hoof-rot of an Uncle! The times Sam would want to apologize for something she thought she had done and I hadn't even given a flying feather. A ~~Pony's~~ Man's personage, who they are, is built upon their life experiences! What was the point of living an entire life and planning it all out to be successful and respected if I had done the equivalent of dying and just stopped being me?

There was no point. Everything became pointless again. The conviction I had earlier of wanting to fight to make sure that filly in the mirror was happy was gone, seeing as she was the one who was ending everything I had left for me.

Well, not everything. I still have Sam.

Sam? Where was she? She had been there when I had passed out, had she just abandoned me? That wasn't like her at all! She would never abandon her brother.

Though I guess I'm not really her brother anymore after all.

Sam wasn't here, that was a fact I couldn't deny. So many times before when I had been sick she had been there when I woke up, bringing me soup or toast or whatever else. And now I wasn't her brother anymore, was I? She didn't look after random strangers, even if they were ponies.

I was in the process of losing everything important that had ever been mine. I lost my gender, I lost my body, I'm losing my humanity. Did I just lose Sam too?

That's exactly what it had been like for her. I didn't know how I knew it, but that stupid mare, Aurora or whatever, had lost everything the same way I had. She had become me, and everything she knew was gone too.

We were both alone, with nothing. And in a way it was neither her fault or mine. This stupid ponification thing had affected thousands of people, maybe more. Thousands of families were going through the exact same thing.

I glanced around, a little glad that I didn't have any tears in my eyes. I had already broken down once today, I didn't even know why I was going through it again. Maybe I was just fragile.

Either way, glancing around my room made me realize that I hadn't even bothered to look for Sam. I was giving up on her before I knew if she had given up on me! For all I knew she was just downstairs, making me some soup and hoping I got better.

What had happened to me anyway? I had suddenly collapsed after I levitated that bowl, which is probably something I shouldn't have been able to do anyway. That was definitely not typical pegasus magic, But I shouldn't be able to do anything except pegasus magic! I turned into a pegasus! Why would I be able to do magic that seems far more normal for unicorns? I questioned. It was possible that I probably shouldn't even bother trying to understand magic, seeing as how it shouldn't be a physical thing I can manipulate anyway. And if I can, then hey! All the better for me!

I finally got myself moving, heading towards my once again closed bedroom door. That went well. Here I thought I was just going to pass out again. Why am I so tired recently? It was like that the night before I became a pony too! Are ponies just naturally easily tired? Is it some sort of side-effect while I finish turning into a pony? Was falling asleep the only way I could continue becoming Aurora?

I reached the door quickly, and looked down at my hooves in wonder. I hadn't even thought about walking, or flicking my tail just at the right time to clear it out from under my hooves. Walking was coming back to me! I smiled, then frowned. It shouldn't be coming back, it should only be visiting!

I could worry about the fact that I was becoming more pony-ish by the second later. For now I had to get to Sam. It doesn't even matter that she won't be able to do anything for me, I just want to say goodbye one last time as a human. That was a bit of a scary thought. These could be my last minutes of being even remotely human.

At least some part of me still had enough to human to decided it wanted to say goodbye to the only person who has always been there.

Wow, I had never really noticed I cared for Sam so much. "Don't it always seem to go, that ya don't what'cha got, till it's gone." I began singing quietly. Before realizing I had sat down, and closed my eyes, and then lay down. I hadn't even noticed my self doing it.

I could go out quietly I guess, lay down and die as it were. I sighed, Let the last bits of myself slip away till there's nothing left.

I absent mindedly began chewing on my braided mane, my teeth squishing the lime green hair tie still trapped in the pink and red flow. Sam's hair tie. That-

"Why am I so bad at leaving my room!" I asked myself loudly, flailing my limbs wildly. I really have to get a grip on myself. I'm not just failing to carry out my last wish, I'm being excessively melodramatic as well. I found myself standing up once more, shaking the sleep from my eyes.

I have no way of knowing that I'm constantly losing my mind, it could be a transformation that only happens while I'm asleep. I hope. Either way the lethargy I was feeling was unnatural, and I was going to resist it whether I wanted to or not.

I turned my attentions to the white wood door. Okay. Door. It's right there. I need to open it. No distractions! I raised a hoof up to it, just barely touching the knob thanks to my tiny stature.

I had opened shower curtains, and I have opened cupboards. One door knob was going to be no problem. I felt the now familiar feeling of magic swirl around my hoof, pressing close to the knob as it turned gently. I willed it to open, and it did so. I was getting to be so good at this, that not a single door would ever be safe again! I was invincible-

And then a feeling as though somepony had driven a screwdriver through my hoof struck me, as my foreleg exploded in pain.

"AHHMpfffff" I burst out, stuffing my mouth with my hoof at the last second. The stab of pain began to dissipate from my foreleg once I stopped manipulating the flow of magic. My head turned to impossible aching, as I realized that using magic was something I was just going to have to avoid for a while. The pain started to go away, but as I put my hoof down I was forced to wince.

Well, at least the door was open. I limped my way through, and then set off in a trot when the pain finally vanished. Okay, I've got to find Sam and- My mind began, as became aware I no longer knew what it was I had wanted to do. Find Sam and- and... And? AND! My mind suddenly recalled the voice that I had heard while I was still waking up. "And?" I echoed it aloud.

It had sounded like Sam, so my guess was that she hadn't left me at all! or at least, not until the exact moment when it mattered. At least now I knew she hadn't watched me pass out on the ground, put me in my bed, and then ran for the hills.

I had heard a quiet muttering almost immediately after as well, was that also Sam? Or was that just me going crazy? What if I had already gone crazy, and I was actually imagining everything. Is that how crazy works? I had never been crazy before. If I was crazy, then crazy wasn't as fun as the lunatics who spend entire days laughing let on.

I reached the stairs once more, recalling that my dangerous descent had only been stopped by Sam last time. This time no one would be there to carry me down. Well, maybe that's a good thing. I can't just rely on other ponies forever. I bit my tongue, even though I hadn't actually been speaking aloud. Rely on other people forever. I corrected my thoughts, getting a bit annoyed. Why couldn't I just have consistent dialect, instead of one that varied between human and pony.

Why do I have to get my memories back? I wondered, before biting my tongue again. Stop it! Those aren't my memories! I am not Lesli- I am not Aurora! Well, I kind of am, but- No! I am not!

A surprisingly loud growl cut through my mental arguments, as I realized I wasn't just hungry, I was starving. We'll discuss this later! I claimed, before realizing that there was no 'we', it was just me, alone.

I thought losing my mind would be frightening, but instead I was just angry.

I took the stairs slowly, one hoof at a time. Some hidden memory told me I could probably fly down the stairs, or at least glide, since I was a pegasus. I told that memory to shut up, I can barely walk as it is! let's not be trying to figure out additional ways in which I can't move succesfully.

Ten more steps to go, and then eight. One hoof down, then the next three. One hoof down, hop! Two hooves down, hop! One hoof down, one hoof to the next step, back hooves forward.

Suddenly I was at the bottom, just as I became aware that I had been moving smoothly. I was regaining old muscle memories. No! Aurora's muscle memories, not mine. I reminded myself. This was getting ridiculous.

The living room was quite different in the dark, with the only light being the pale blue of the computer monitor. Our dusty beige couch sat crooked and lonely, facing a darkened television where my family had spent many a family bonding moment together. 'My family' consisted mostly of Sam and myself though, my parents had weird tastes in entertainment. I wonder where my parents are? They said they were on vacation, but I had never found out where they had gone. I'd have to ask Sam when I got the chance.

I crept up to the computer, again hopping onto the large chair. I spun round once more, and sighed. Okay, let's do this again. I prepared myself, tensing the muscle that encouraged my wings to spread open. I gently flapped the left one until gradually I began spinning. My line of sight met the kitchen, and something in my mind nagged me to go search for something to eat. I put it on my mental to-do-list right below 'find out how to stop becoming more and more pony like'.

My gentle spin left me facing the monitor at last, and my eyes squinted as I observed what Sam had been doing.

It was her Twitter account, and her most recent Tweets were about me. She was posting pictures and updates and seeking help on, 'HOW TO HELP AN UNCONSCIOUS PEGASUS'. Two hundred and forty one replies so far, most of it was caps-lock raging trolls that were telling her to have me put down. Or at least, I hoped they were trolls.

Today I learned my Sister has more than 1200 followers, all of which were caps-locking right back, defending my honor. Well, not really my honor, just my right to be alive.

She did care about me, she just wasn't here to show it.

I must have a defective sister. Isn't sibling rivalry supposed to be a real problem in most families? I mused sarcastically. I wondered if more families were brought together or pulled apart by the entire ponification thing. Probably pulled apart, I hate to be a cynic but I doubt family that sticks together like Sam and I are the norm.

I looked down at the mouse, wondering if it would be safe to use magic again yet. Last time I had simply twisted a door knob had resulted in super-pain. I decided to play it safe, and just slowly drag the mouse with my hoof. Looking up at the monitor, I slowly pulled the cursor across the screen. I reached the new tab button. Okay, now I just click and- I brought the pointiest part of my hoof down on the left mouse button, and sighed as the mouse slid away. My hooves were just not designed for this.

My stomach growled once more. Where's Sam? I'm useless. If I went to the kitchen I would probably have no hope of even seeing food. Well, I would see it, but I would have no hope of reaching it.

I had set up every hiding spot for every morsel of food to prevent my dog from reaching it, and now I was going to starve because of it.

My hoof succeeded in clicking the mouse, and I was presented with a new tab. A pang of pain rumbled through my gut. Okay, do I go on a hopeless search for food or do I continue browsing? I looked towards the darkened kitchen, and then back to the bright Firefox homepage on the screen before me. I typed in a letter, 'P', and carefully pressed the 'enter' key with my nose.

The results brought ponies. Many ponies.

After a while had gone by, I had gotten familiar with the various news articles and information I could find about the entire pony fiasco. Apparently the number of confirmed ponied people had risen to a hundred and forty thousand, with new cases showing up every minute. Not a single case so far mentioned anyone else struggling with pony memories. On the bright side, gender swapping was rare, but not uncommon, so I wasn't totally alone. I was just the only pony that was losing my mind and regaining the memories of the original pony whose body I was in. Why am I special? I mean, I understand it had to happen to somepon- Somebody, but what about this pony is special? There are lots of other pegasi, what makes me different?

A few more searches just added to the confusion. Barely any other ponies were able to walk successfully yet, and yet hadn't I been trotting down stairs just a little while ago? A lot of the timing was messed up too. People had mostly begun mysteriously finding themselves to be ponies around mid-afternoon. My problems had presumably started around the time I had went to sleep the previous night, a full eleven hours or so before the peak ponifications were occurring.

And not a single pony, unicorn or otherwise, had figured out magic yet. What was wrong with me? Why was I already a step beyond the rest? From what I can tell, everyone else has the body of a pony but not the mind, and I'm the real deal. I'm an actual pony. I was Aurora.

I stopped searching for posts and the like from the families and the victims, and began searching for the people who had yet to come in contact with a pony. Contact? Oh gosh, it's like a disease: "Help! I've been bitten!" "Oh no! Stay away, you pony! I've avoided coming in contact with ponies so far, I'm not gonna change that now!" The 'survivors' had little of value to say about ponies, though I did find several people on Facebook wishing the best to those affected by all of this.

Wikipedia had crashed as millions of people suddenly came to edit or read about ponies, and therefore had nothing valuable to say about ponies. Imgur had crashed, as nearly another full million people posted pony pictures that wouldn't be seen until the server was rebooted. A great deal of news sites had crashed, as those that weren't posting pictures flocked to them for advice and information.

Reddit was dead, 4chan was dead, Tumblr and Twitter were being ignored by all but the most internet addicted.

An hour or so after I began my hunt for information, Facebook died as well. Too many people had taken to the digital waves of the internet at once, and had immediately begun going to the most popular sites. Even though the amount of people turning into ponies had peaked hours ago, the peak hour for those same people and their families to visit the internet was now.

Okay, change tactics. Go to unpopular sites. Let's go see what the government is claiming. a few minutes of slow typing later, I found myself on a webpage that only told me one slightly worrisome thing: A state of emergency may be called, a bill will be passed by morning determining what to do about the sudden rise in equines that were previously ordinary citizens.

I see. Lets hope it's not a bill claiming that all ponies are to be exiled to the moon or something. I shouldn't like to be banished to the moon. I half joked, seriously hoping that no politician would be so stupid as to think they might be able to allow harm to come to an entire new race of sentient quadrupedal magic creatures. Seriously hoping.

I glanced down at the computer's clock, and found it was again just after two in the morning. I had been browsing for nearly three hours. Oh hey, nearly twenty four hours of being a pony. That wasn't so bad. It was certainly short, but it doesn't help that I slept through most of it. Honestly, where was Sam? What could she be doing at a time like this? I turned my eyes to the kitchen, my stomach reminding me I hadn't eaten at all today with a now constant buzz of light pain. "Okay, I can no longer take it. This pony is hungry, and she is going to go eat grass if she has to!" I determined aloud, slipping off the chair foreleg first once more.

---- Meanwhile ----

"Come on Sam, can't you stay a little while longer? I really need your help with a few other things!" Ramona complained loudly, ~~her~~ his short stallion form giving me a pout.

I shook my head again. "No is a no Romeo! I have to go check on Leslie! I told her- Er, him- That I'd be back in a second!"

Ramona had been my friend for almost six years now, having been the first person I had talked to that was my age after I had started living with my parents. I hadn't kept any friends I made living with my Uncle, seeing as how he scared them all off.

She used to be a tall brunette with an attitude who frightened away all but the toughest boys. Now she was a dusty yellow and brown-grey Stallion, who was half my height and needed my help to make her dinner. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

As a Stallion, Ramona looked quite a bit different from Leslie. She was a good deal taller, and her snout was a fair bit longer and more squared off. She also seemed to have a body at least a year or two older than Leslie, who was comparatively almost a filly. I also noticed, not for the first time, that she had a cutie mark, quite unlike my 'Sister'. It was a red string attached to a needle, and when I asked about it Ramona had revealed she was indeed quite talented at sewing. Why doesn't Leslie get one of those? She's- Bleh- He's talented! I don't know what he's talented at, but he has talents! Thinking upon it a little harder, Leslie had always been a bit more of a 'jack of all trades' than a 'super special secret talent... But only one,' kind of guy.

It still didn't seem fair that my brother didn't get a cutie mark though, I really felt sorry for the guy.

I also noticed something entirely weird, but I hadn't noticed I had noticed it until I saw Ramona as a pony. When I had first seen her this morning, Leslie had looked a great deal like a perfect copy of a cartoon. Giant eyes and entirely impossible body proportions. As the day had progressed, and especially after she fell into her mini-coma, her pony body had adapted more to the mundane world of earth, changing slowly and almost unnoticeably. Her eyes had shrunk down a little bit, and her body had unscaled itself so she looked less like a bobble head and more like a natural creature. Her muzzle had gotten even larger, though it still wasn't quite as large as Ramona's stallion muzzle. And though her coat had kept the slightly cartoony sheen that gave it an outline, it too was less noticeable now.

All in all, she looked less cartoonish and more like a proper creature that could almost belong on earth. She definitely looked more horse like, the only difference between her and regular horses being the unnatural coat color, the feathery wings, The still much smaller but impossibly sturdier frame, and the eyes being spaced much closer together. The eyes of an intelligent creature rather than a silly farm animal.

Ramona of course hadn't noticed herself going through any changes of that sort, and after I had borrowed her computer I determined that none of the early pony pictures of other pony-people on the internet showed any changes of that sort either. Every Pony in the world except apparently Leslie had started looking a bit more terran.

What made Leslie special? What was so different about that one morning-blue pegasus?

Ramona brought me back to the present, still chiding me about my decision to leave."I think you just want to go back and tease him a bit more, You told me you were jealous on the phone earlier. Come on Sam! I need you more than he does right now!" Ramona retaliated weakly. I had already taught her how to walk from what I learned watching Leslie earlier, and though magic was still beyond her I was certain she was almost making progress towards being able to attempt to try! Yeah, I don't think she's going to understand magic. Ever. She didn't really need magic though, since she didn't need clothes at the moment, and all her easy-to-snack-upon food was kept in low cupboards easily pried open by hooves.

She was right though, I was jealous of Leslie. It just didn't seem fair that he would get a chance of a lifetime like this and then just be so meh.

That certainly wasn't going to prevent me from going back home and making sure she was okay though. I wasn't going to let a small thing like me not getting to be a magical pony when nearly everyone else I knew had become one. Well, not everyone I know, just everyone I could possibly be jealous of nearby in about a thirty mile radius of my home.

I had already freaked out about it once though, so I had to follow my 'Sammy code' and never speak of it again. I didn't come up with that name I swear. It was Leslie! It was always Leslie! He totally didn't get me to go along with it or anything, it just happened one day!

Ramona was still saying something about how unfair to our friendship I was being by caring about my Sist- Brother. "Come on Sam! I've never called a favor like this on you before-" You call favors every time I visit. "And since when have I ever not followed through on something you asked me to do!" Just about every time actually. "All I'm asking is that you stay over one night! Make sure I stay okay and all that! Come on! I'll even give you the comfy blankets!"

Oh, that was something new. Ramona offering me the comfy blankets- "And stealing them back in the middle of the night?"

"It was a one time thing!"

"It was an every-time thing."

"I- Yeah I guess it was." Ramona frowned. She then looked up at me expectantly. "So, you're totally staying right?"

I was already out the door. "Okay! Thanks for everything! I'll call you or something! Tomorrow!" Ramona called out to me. She was a good friend, but she was also a very needy friend.

"Later," I replied, stepping out of her apartment and into a cold and musty hallway. The door closed gently behind me, springs stretching quietly. I walked forwards, reaching the stairs and listening to the echoing tap of my feet as I descended. Down. Down. Down. Bottom. My mind repeated once more, as I finished the entirely all too familiar routine. Good thing I wasn't a pony or I might have had trouble with that flight. Leslie certainly didn't have it easy with our stairs. Then again, he didn't have it easy with movement in general. I pushed on the thick glass door, and stepped into the comforting fresh air.

Only about six blocks to walk, through the dark, on an early summer morning. At least this was a good quiet neighborhood, and it wouldn't be too cold out either. Leslie is going to be starving, I hope he finds the lasagna. I had cooked up the vegetarian lasagna while Leslie had been sleeping and put it on the bottom shelf of the fridge, but something told me he wouldn't find it. Leslie wasn't the most observant of people most times. Probably didn't even realize he was a pony until he made it to the bathroom this morning.

The morning seemed far away now. After Leslie had passed out, I had begun freaking out. I checked the internet for help, but the most popular webpages have been crashing all day long. I called Ramona to see if she could give me a ride or if I could borrow her car to go to the hospital, but she was a pony so no help there. Her car had already been borrowed by another of her friends anyway, and the hospitals were likely overflowing and desperately under-staffed. I ended up going over to Ramona's after she nagged me for several hours, but first I took my sweet time making sure Leslie was okay. His condition didn't seem to go beyond being a pony and unconscious, so I figured it was probably fine to leave him. He almost woke up right before I left, but it was more like he was moving in slow-motion and wasn't properly aware of anything. Hopefully he wouldn't be an amnesiac or something when I got home.

I pressed a button attached to a traffic light, and waited for the cross-walk signal to come on. I heard a familiar chirp, and walked across the road, mostly lost in my own thoughts. four more blocks to go. I was leaving the tall apartment blocks and entering the rows of sub-urban homes I knew as my neighborhood.

My pocket vibrated, as I received a text. I slipped my phone out of my pocket to read that- Oh, that's not a text. I was a little disappointment, my phone was merely at twenty percent battery. The clock informed me it was just after two in the morning, but I already knew that.

Three blocks to go. The houses surrounding me disappeared as I turned right, taking a shortcut through the local park. This path saved me about three minutes of walking, but Mom had always warned me that parks could be dangerous at night. It was ridiculous of course, though it was a really large park, it was in the center of one of the quietest and safest neighborhoods in the nearest nine miles. Absolutely nothing bad could ever happen here.

A dim glow pierced the quiet, forested park.

That's curious, it doesn't look like a flashlight or lantern, it looks like that area is just kind of... Lit up. Every now and then a family or two would set up a tent and go camping in this park, it was a big enough park that nobody really cared. At first I thought maybe a family was there tonight, but through the surprisingly dense trees I couldn't make out a tent of any kind. Just people, the night sky, and sleeping bags then? Human curiosity drove me closer.

The park was about 3 square miles, in a long narrow band. It stretched just far enough north to almost connect with the provincial parks and the Rocky Mountains. It contained several natural rock walls, a cold stream that people might fish from every now and then, and a jumble of kids climbing structures and other assorted things. Picnic tables and benches could be found throughout, and at least four washrooms were available. There was even a spray park at the end of the park opposite from where I was.

The glowing thing I was staring at now was not a natural feature of the park. It was just plain wrong.

"That's utterly impossible. That type of thing isn't a real thing." It was a strange thing to try and wrap my mind around, and even stranger to understand as I crouched down to get a closer look.

There was a glowing hole in reality, and it wasn't even attached to the ground.

It was just kind of... Sitting there. Floating a few inches above the ground. A blue-white shape that looked like someone had taken the universe, pretended it was a piece of paper, and stabbed a hole in it with a giant pencil. It even curved out around the edges giving the impression that something had been forced into this side of the hole. I don't think I want to know what's on the other side.

And then, while I was watching, the hole gave a slight pulse as a butterfly fluttered its way into my world. "What-" My mind broke temporarily, as the butterfly- That's not a butterfly, it can't be. the butterfly shaped thing flitted around the hole aimlessly. It was a pure blue, and looking closer I could tell it was actually translucent. It was larger than most butterflies I had ever seen, though most butterflies I saw turned out to be moths. This butterfly also left tiny after-images whenever it flapped it's wings, so I was almost certain it had no chance of being from this world. I noticed my hand moving towards it, and the butterfly hovered in place momentarily. My hand extended out to poke the butterfly and it flapped it's wings once. It landed on my hand gently, and felt like- Like what I imagined a normal butterfly sitting on a hand might feel like. It began to glow the same blue-white as the hole, and it's wings fluttered madly. It stayed on my hand though, just fluttering madly but not actually trying to escape. Little motes of glowing stuff fluttered off it, illuminating my hand entirely blue. It was supremely beautiful.

It then suddenly faded out of existence.

It- Um. Okay. I- What? Well that hadn't answered any of the questions I was beginning to ask myself. I stood up, taking a step back from the hole and wondering when I had gotten so close. I found my hand slipping into my pocket, attempting to find my phone. I found it, and raised it up in front of my face intending to take pictures. My finger tapped the lock button, and I found myself staring at my phone with a frown. Full... Battery.

My phone had somehow charged itself. I lowered my phone, glaring at the hole. "Did you do this?" I asked aloud, realizing just how quiet everything was. The hairs began to raise on the back of my neck, and I turned around. I broke into a run, suddenly desperate to escape.

If that thing can charge a phone, what could it do to me? I trampled through the park, crunches and snaps under my feet as I broke tree branches that should have known better than to get in my way.

I really hoped I didn't just get a lethal dose of radiation.

I finally escaped back onto the park path, and stopped. I gasped for breath a little, putting my hands on my thighs as I let my breathing regulate. Turning back the way I came, the possibly deadly glow remained in place, never wavering. Good, if it stays there then I don't have to worry about it following me home. I am not very good at staying serious in serious situations.

I turned my attention back to the path, finding the gap in a section of fence that would lead me back to my street. I could worry about glowing holes in the universe later, for now my brother needed me.

I had managed to answer several pressing questions I had though. The entire pony fiasco was likely caused by holes like those. I didn't know how I knew it, but my mind decided it was true.

Also, that butterfly had been made of pure magic energy, I was equally certain of that as I was certain that socks didn't go well with sandals.

Two more blocks, hopefully they wont be as exciting as that last one.

---- Home at last ----

I approached my home quickly, scanning for any signs that Leslie was awake or at least still home. Most of the lights were still off, but the kitchen light was now on. I sneaked down the driveway, and scampered past the front window and up to the door.

My mind had drifted back to my earlier thoughts as I opened the wooden passageway and stepped into the warm household. What does make that blue pegasus so special? Why is she the only one able to do magic so far? Why is she the only interesting one? I wondered, closing the door behind me.

A sound of something metal clattering to the ground loudly echoed from the kitchen, and I hurried down the hallway. I passed through the darkened living room quickly, noticing that Leslie had made it to the computer, closed my tabs, and was now browsing Fox News for some reason. I stepped into the kitchen expecting a giant mess and food stains everywhere. Instead I got a cheer as I walked into the surprisingly neat kitchen

A box of granola bars was spilled on it's side, and a metal cookie sheet lay turned over in front of a disheveled looking filly sitting on the floor with a look of surprise and joy plastered on her face. Her face was splattered with lasagna and cheese sauce, and judging from the empty tin pan in the corner she had eaten the entire thing. The fridge door was hanging open, but other than that the kitchen was completely fine with nothing out of place.

"My magic is working again! I don't know why but it just is!" Leslie informed me, at the same time informing me that at some point her magic had stopped working.

"That's good to hear, you'll need it to clean up this stuff." I gestured at the room around us. Leslie raised his hooves, rotating and trotting in a perfect circle to see what sort of mess he had made. He mastered walking in a pretty short time-frame. Wasn't he still having issues with turning when I left? I noted.

Leslie stopped his rotation, sitting back down cutely and closing his eyes. He opened them again, and they were glowing bright purple once more. I held my breath, hoping he knew what he was doing. It was always neat to see magic tricks, but I certainly didn't like when the magician was at risk of passing out every time he performed.

The cookie sheet flipped itself over, then floated into the air. I stepped forwards, with the intention of grabbing the tray to remove the magical strain from the poor pegasus.

"No no, I've got this. I promise." He promised, and a lack of stress in his voice told me it was probably true. Probably. He better not pass out again right after this.

The tray wobbled in mid air, but steadied itself again before rising the last few inches up to the counter. It promptly stopped glowing, and plopped down on the counter with little more than a tiny bone rattling noise.

Leslie's eyes were deep purple again, and he was staring at me expectantly. A second or two passed by, and he didn't tip over so I assumed it was all good.

"Seven out of ten, would witness again." I informed him, giving a nod of approval. "What was up with that one wobble though? And how does that all work anyway? How did you figure out how to do it?"

He held up a hoof, attempting to block my stream of questions. "One thing at a time Sam, slow down there." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay. Attempt two. What was up with the wobble." I crouched down to meet him at eye level.

"That was me almost losing control. Next question." He nearly lost control? Was it a lack of practice or was levitating solid metal sheets with nothing but your mind just that hard? Probably the second one.

"How does it all work?"

"That would take hours to explain."

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I barely spent anytime with you today. Well that's not true, I spent almost the entire day with you, but you were passed out for most of it. Either way, I have time to waste."

"Um, Okay." He looked unsure, probably wondering where to begin. "Well magic itself is pretty much everywhere. All around us right now, constantly moving and flowing. I don't know if it was always like this but it's like this right now so whatever."

My knees began to hurt, so I settled into a cross-legged position. Leslie continued, "I don't know how it works entirely, but for some reason I have this ability to 'sense' the flow of magic, like see where it is and stuff. I also have a stranger ability of being able to tell magic where to flow, and how. I can tell it to go slow, or go really fast, or in which direction, or how much. The only limitation so far seems to be if I tell too much of it to do something or to do too much of something then my head tries to explode. Which hurts a lot. Earlier I could tell it to do only a little bit but right now I'm pretty sure I'm at my peak."

I nodded, then inquired, "So the moving the curtain earlier? You were telling the magic to flow in such a way that the curtain was pulled open or closed?"

"Not quite. That was magic that I was using sub-conciously. Passive-magic. I don't have to tell it what to do, it just kind of happens. Though I do have the ability to withhold the flow of magic from my hooves, preventing anything from happening. And vice versa of course. I can tell my hooves to start letting magic flow through them."

"When you say, flow through them, you mean the magic is coming from inside yourself?"

"I- Yes? Apparently. The changes to the flow of magic are probably caused by invisible waves- Well, almost all magic is invisible, I mean invisible to me as well- Invisible waves of magic that I am releasing, that will collide with the general flow and change it. It- But sometimes it's not really a flow, and not all the invisible waves come from me, otherwise I wouldn't be able to pull things towards me. It's more like a force that I can control, and tell where to go, and it's warm but not physically, and I-" He looked quite unsure. "It's basically really hard to understand- And I'm currently the worlds leading expert! I can't really explain magic to someone who can't feel it for themselves. It's alive, and beautiful, and I don't know how I lived without knowing it was there. It really just feels like a part of my life now."

"That's poetic. Now try again without trying to be deep." I sighed. This is helping me understand it I guess, but it's also just making me more and more jealous. I like being part of things too! Quit hogging the magic to yourself Bro!

"I- I was trying! I think. Look, Magic is nice! Okay! That's all the explanation I can explanate!" He explained. "Don't tell me that's not a word, because it should be!"

"Okay, final question. How does this all make you feel?"

"The magic? The being a pony, or- Or that I'm-"

"The magic, duh! I already asked you about being a pony earlier." I wonder what the third thing was going to be.

He smiled, "Oh, well the magic. It's, how do I describe it?" I began expecting some built up description about how life as he knew it was changed forever, and how- "It's neat." He finished, derailing my train of thoughts.

I stood up, and noticed that the granola bars had disappeared from behind me. Apparently they had floated to the counter top while I wasn't looking.

I inhaled heavily, and exhaled rather slowly. I had come to know this as my body's way of telling me I needed time to process something. A little something like the fact that my brother was, as he had said, the worlds leading expert on true magic. Not stage magic, or card tricks, but true arcane manipulation of the physical world through unseen forces.

Growing up I had always been the kid that liked going to magic shows. I watched the magicians very closely, always mesmerized. It was around my eighth show that I began to understand some of the simpler tricks. Sometime later after I was kicked out of my thirty second magic show, in the ninth grade, I realized something about myself. I didn't go to magic shows because I enjoyed the unknown, rather I went to them because I enjoyed knowing. I loved being able to spoil the tricks and stunts my fellow classmates and friends would stare slack-jawed at.

And now Leslie had in his fore hooves true magic. Needless to say I was a tad jealous. He also wasn't very good at explaining it, meaning I couldn't know as much as I wanted to.

But worst of all, he merely thought it was neat.

I inhaled again, realizing I wasn't processing knowledge but rather staving off pure frustration with deep breaths. Calm yourself Sam. You already snapped at him earlier today, you're better than this. "Hmm." I attempted to mutter, instead finding myself growling. Change the topic, ignore the fact that Leslie has magical powers and isn't dancing for joy like he should be.

Leslie changed the topic for me. "So, what's for breakfast?" I raised an eyebrow, before gesturing at the empty tin platter of veggie lasagna behind him. "Besides that?"

"How much do ponies eat? That was a full meal for a family! You had at least eight dinners right there!" I wasn't even mad, it was impressive! Leslie hadn't been a very big eater in my family, that had always been Dad and myself. Apparently he was now the biggest of eaters in our family, and yet three feet shorter than the rest of us.

"What can I say? I'm as hungry as a h-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence. I'm sure it's already been said a million times by every other person in the world who turned into a pony.

"Okay, I'm hungry like the wol-"

"And that response has probably been made in response to every person who made the exact same complaint as me following the times other people said the sentence I refuse to let you finish."

"I- I'm lost. Still hungry, and now lost." He turned around, heading back to the still hanging open fridge. A jug of milk glowed purple, then leisurely floated it's way up to the counter.

I walked over and closed the fridge. I continued my walk over to a pantry door, opening it and bringing a box of cereal stuff down for my brother. "So really then, your sure you aren't going to pass out any more? You can just magic as you like now? You aren't even going to try to worry that you aren't using magic within your species' limitations?"

"I seem to be fine for now. Ponies are pretty darn magical."

"Yeah, but you aren't exactly using the right magic." There was something that had been bugging me all day ever since Leslie had levitated a glass bowl.

"I'm not? Seems to be working fine for me. Am I not a magical pony?" He seemed to not quite understand what I was getting at.

"Pegasus magic Bro! You seem to be using Unicorn magic, but you aren't a Unicorn!"

"Well, you seem to be using silly, but you aren't an Applejack."

"Wh- What?"

"She's a silly pony, Google it! The point I'm attempting to make is that it doesn't really matter. I'm using magic, period! It's neat!" There's that word again. "Who cares if I'm not using the magic generally associated with winged equines. Who cares if I'm using the magic for equines with spindly forehead bones instead? Seriously, who is there to stop me?"

He had a pretty good point, there wasn't exactly a pony magic police coming around and telling him to stop doing something he shouldn't be able to do anyway. Hey you! Stop doing that really cool thing that shouldn't be possible but since it is you might as well have fun with it- Wait, no. I'm not good at pony magic police impressions.

"I'm here to stop you. If you can do unicorn magic, can you do Pegasus magic too? Can you cloud walk? Can you actually fly? Or are those wings good for nothing?"

"Why does that matter?" He tilted his head, a little confused.

"What kind of Pegasus doesn't like flying! Besides Fluttershy that is. Are you really just going to ignore the fact that you have wings? Flying has always been your dream, magic has always been mine. Don't be latching onto my dreams when you have a chance to fulfill your own!" He went very quiet, as he slowly looked over his wings. He flapped them once or twice, before moving them in a motion similar to a shrug.

He looked down at the ground, as he muttered something.

I grabbed a couple of bowls from another cupboard, before using the cereal and milk to craft two bowls of breakfast. It was a little late for me to be having breakfast, but who was there to stop me?

"Why can I do these things? What did I do?" Leslie asked himself quietly, having some sort of internal monologue. He looked a little sad and defeated, so I placed a bowl of cereal sans spoon in front of him.

"And what kind of name is Aurora anyway?"

Hmm? Who was named Aurora? Did Leslie decided to give himself a pony name while I was gone? "A pretty cool one. Who's name is it?"

"Mine apparently. Aurora Drift. I don't know what was wrong with my old name, but apparently some part of me wants to use a different one."

I took a look at the filly, sitting sad on the floor with her wings splayed out. "Sit up straight, look proud." I instructed, wondering how well the name suited her.

"Why?" She questioned, looking at me with confusion. Well she was pretty, and the aurora borealis was also pretty. We're they evenly matched? It was hard to tell if one was an astonishing event in the sky and the other was a sad pony.

She sat up, stood even. Tilting her head back and giving her mane a slight toss. She tensed her muscles, and raised her wings. Can confirm, is Pegasus. But was she as pretty and awe-inspiring as an aurora? Her purple eyes glimmered with determination for a brief second, and the well shampooed mane seemed to shimmer at the line between red and pink. Her morning-sky blue coat was admirable and glossy, and her tail was long and shimmered just as hard as her mane.

Oh, that's interesting. Leslie's body had been changing almost imperceptibly all day, but if there was one noticeable change it was definitely his wings. They had gained nearly a full foot of wingspan, and the feathers were even glossier than his well-conditioned coat.

Leslie actually noticed this change himself, "Hey, did my wings get larger since this morning? I thought I was done changing physically!"

"Eyes front! The judges are far from finished!" He snapped his eyes away from his wings, standing at attention. "Jump!" I instructed again.

"how high?" He joked, as I seriously wondered exactly how high a pegasus could jump. He answered the question by leaping straight into the air like a cat, and peaking at about six feet off the ground.

"That high apparently." Again the mare landed gracefully and without a sound. The bowl of cereal beside his hooves barely shook. Pony hooves are quite impressive if they can absorb that much shock without a peep. "Congratulations. You have completed phase one of the Pegasus trials. Evaluation Phase." I began, wondering if I should start something where I slowly teach Leslie to fly and all that jazz. Phase twelve could be a sonic boom. I have my doubts we'll get that far.

Leslie smiled, "And the results?"

"You have been deemed worthy of the name Aurora Drift."

His face gained a frown, and I wondered why. It was a nice name, but he didn't seem to like it. Maybe he didn't feel like he had earned it quite yet. It disappeared as he asked, "So what's phase two like?" He seemed to be ready to go for a run. His legs twitched as he gently shifted his weight back and forth between his left and right sides.

I felt my face muscles stretch as I caught myself yawning. "Phase two is sleep. For me at least." I looked at my untouched bowl of cereal and wondered what on earth I would do with it. I wasn't actually all that hungry, having already had dinner at Ramona's.

He shook his head at me. "That's not the 'stay up for two days at a time' Sam that I know, Where'd she go?"

"She must have gotten old or something. Look at all these wrinkles." I grabbed my bowl and shoved it beside Leslie's other bowl. "Here Bro, have some more."

"I thought I was being called 'Sis'?"

"Do you prefer Sis?" He didn't actually answer, seeing as he went to work slowly sipping at his bowl of mini-wheats. I'll take that as a yes.

Author's Note

Feel free to leave any comments or concerns! I would particularly like some feedback on my main characters, but any feedback at all is appreciated~!

Aurora

---- Day two ----

"Up and at them Sis! It's a brand new day and I am not going to let you sleep it away." Samantha's voice pierced my sleep, abruptly ending my dream. What was I dreaming about again? Is it really gone already? So far, both times I had woken up as a pony were sudden and very disorienting. I lifted my muzzle from my pillow, inhaling the sweet flowery scents drifting in through my open window. Ugh, Sam opened my window. How dare she let me smell the pleasantries of summer! Opening my eyes, I found that my room was surprisingly dark. I lifted my head, searching for Sam, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked back at the pillow, studying the pony head shaped imprint I had left.

I shook my head, before rolling to my left and sliding straight off my bed foreleg first. I felt my hind legs slide off the bed too, and as my hooves touched the ground my body gave a slight bounce before all my hooves were on the ground once more. I lifted every hoof one at a time, stretching them all out. Finally I flared out my wings, and pushed my front and back pairs of hooves away from each other, closing my eyes as I found myself enjoying the feeling of my muscles tensing up. I didn't realize exactly how far into my stretch I was until my my muzzle poked the carpet. I opened my eyes, and twisting my head back I found myself in a very cat-like pose. I curled my body back together, meeting my hind legs with my forelegs as my back arched upwards. Crick! my spine proclaimed, signalling that I was sufficiently stretched out.

I licked my lips, and finding them a tad dry I began wondering if I should head downstairs and find some water or wait for Sam to come back. She would probably be a bit surprised to see me out of bed, since when I was a human I definitely hadn't been a morning person. Her normal routine for getting me up for school had included telling me to get out of bed at least three times.

I still wasn't technically a morning person, now I was a morning pony.

And I wasn't just any morning pony, I was Aurora Drift, The pegasus who- Actually I still have no idea what Aurora is like, so I don't think I can really give myself a proper title just yet.

Last night had been both the least eventful and the most important night of my life. Well, technically I've had less eventful nights, but the most important parts holds strong. Last night, as I had been trying to fight becoming Aurora, desperately clinging to the last of my humanity, I realized something that made me a great deal more accepting of my situation. While I had been gaining equinity and becoming more like Aurora, I had thought I was losing what was left of Leslie and losing my humanity.

Truthfully, I hadn't lost a single bit of who I used to be, I had simply gained bits of who Aurora was. All my old memories were still intact, all my experiences and knowledge were still there. I was still Leslie after all, I was just also Aurora at the same time.

Or at least, I would be if I knew who Aurora was. Aside from a few speaking mannerisms, muscle memories, and other habits, I had next to nothing involving knowledge about the pony I had become. For all I knew Aurora and Leslie could be practically twins, with both of us living the same life only with one living in Equestria and the other on Earth. But then again, we could be complete opposites, I had no idea.

"Okay, Sis, attempt two, you- Oh what? You're actually up?" Sam finally returned, and looked a little startled. She had a glass of water with her, which I hoped she hadn't been planning to douse my head with. "I- Good morning I guess?" She set her glass of water safely down on my bedside table. She then proceeded to sit on my bed and give me a stare.

"What?" I asked, wondering why she was staring at me. Her eyes flicked to the left, and I realized she was studying me.

She gave a shrug, "Nothing." She turned her head, while reaching towards her pocket and pulling out-

"If it's nothing, why are you pulling out your notebook? What are you writing?" She had produced her favorite little notepad and a well used pencil from her sweat-pant pocket, and was scratching something down while still feigning innocence.

"Absolutely nothing." She said again, as her lips flashed a tiny smile for just a fraction of a second. What is she writing? Sam didn't use her notepad unless she was writing about things that were actually interesting. I scrambled back up onto my bed, and frowned at her as she stood up and walked calmly away from me, shielding her notes with her chest. I was left on the bed, with a serious speed disadvantage due to my lack of size.

"Okay fine, I didn't care about your notes anyway." I harrumphed, turning my head away and pointing my muzzle skywards. I did care of course, but unless I learned how to fly and/or maneuver around my room faster and less clumsily I didn't have a hope of even seeing the inside of the notebook.

"Excellent! Then I am victorious." She scratched down one especially loud note, before putting the book away and returning to staring at me blankly. I returned the look, engaging myself in the sudden staring contest. It lasted nearly a full minute before I again repeated my original question.

"What?"

Sam returned another shrug, it looked like she didn't know what to say either. Okay, break the ice. Start a conversation. "Have anything planned for today?" She shook her head. Unusual, I thought, knowing that Sam usually had a plan for every day of the week, whether it be a work day or a day off. "It's a Sunday right?" A nod confirmed. Silence continued. Am I- Is Aurora just an anti-social pony? Or is Sam just especially quiet today? I was pretty sure it was the latter, but again I didn't know enough about Aurora just yet to be sure.

"So how about this weather?" I got a snicker and a rolling of eyes, but no more than that. I sat down on my bed, wondering if Sam was just going to be quietly staring at my walls all day. She wasn't even staring at me even more, it was beginning to get a little disconcerting. I turned my head away from her as well, finding my eyes turned to the glass of water Sam had left over here.

I grasped it in both of my hooves, noticing both a feeling of cold through the glass and a feeling of warmth from the passive magic sneaking through my hooves. I didn't even have to think about it anymore, magic just happened. I lifted the glass to my lips, taking an obnoxiously loud slurp.

"So yeah, Mom and Dad called." PFFFFFFFFTTTTT I found myself performing a perfect spit take, and I would later find myself wishing someone had recorded it. At the moment though, I was busy sorting through the sudden flurry of thoughts as my mind fell into a minor-panic.

What did they say?! No wonder Sam was so quiet. Did she tell them I turned into a pony? "How's Mackerel doing?" My mouth asked, ignoring all the obvious questions and jumping straight to the bizarre.

"He's- What? That's really your first question? You turned into a mare and when our parents call you wanna know how our dog is doing?"

"I know, I'm surprised too."

"He's probably good, they didn't really say." I waited for her to continue, but Sam went back to her silence, though now with easily noticeable worry in her eyes. What did THEY SAY!?!?

The ultimate question still hung in the room, though neither of us asked it or answered it. Ever since we had been kids we had a game we used to play, in which neither of us would tell the other anything unless it was directly asked. We would try and find out everything we could with the least amount of questions, and anything above four questions was considered a loss. I hadn't played it for at least a couple of years, but judging by Sam's silence it was apparent we were playing it now. I don't know why she chose to start playing it, seeing as how she was probably bursting with things to tell me, but once we started we couldn't call it off.

I asked the ultimate question, "So, did you tell them about my... Predicament?" I tensed up, expecting the worst.

"I didn't have the chance." She informed me, raising even more questions. "By the way. are we playing that question game? I was just being quiet for dramatic effect, but..."

Didn't have the chance? Why wouldn't Sam have a chance? Were they cut short? Were they being kidnapped mid-call? Or was it something a bit more likely, like they had some news that was even bigger and therefore didn't have the patience to talk? "Of course we are! Can't stop now Sis. What did they tell you that was so important they didn't have time to hear about how their son was a pony?"

Sam nodded grimly. She had a very love-hate relationship with this game, seeing as how she only liked playing it when she had a chance to ask the questions. "Well, it's not exactly easy news to take."

I took another attempt at a sip of water, succeeding this time. I swallowed, and explained, "I was turned into a pony yesterday, effectively rendering my life as over. That was pretty hard news to take, and I got over that. Try me." I took another sip, expecting something just a tad lighter than the news I received.

"You and Mackerel aren't the only quadrupedal members of the family."

My mind didn't work for a few seconds, so I was safely able to finish my sip with no risk of a second spit take. I just kind of nodded, without actually understanding what I just heard. Then my mind processed, and tried to give me a few bogus answers.

We... Got a new puppy. Best day ever. No. That's not right.

I looked at Sam's face, and my mind processed that just like her face, it had to be serious. We adopted a pony. I- No, that's not right either. Come on, you know this one.

One or both of my parents have turned into a pony. Yep, that's the one, good job mind. Now what is the correct response in this type of situation?

I didn't say anything for a little while, and discovered I had somehow sipped away the half a glass of water without even realizing it. I glanced off to the side and repeated a question from much earlier, this time with a much quieter tone. "So, how about this weather?" Sam nodded grimly.

I put the glass of water back on my table, and adopted the same blank stare Sam had been giving me earlier, it was uncomfortably easy to see why she was so glum now. "Right. I-" I started, but didn't have any words to describe my feelings. Angry, upset, volatile, outraged, saddened, excited, crestfallen, melancholy, confused- "I'm going to go get a breath of fresh air." I proclaimed, slipping back off my bed for the second time and letting my tiny legs carry me where they may. Sam watched me leave the room, and turned to follow me.

Hang on, excited? What? My thoughts weren't making sense, though what else was new. I was already halfway down the stairs, but my mind was definitely paying attention to other things. Why was excited in my list? I blamed Aurora's side of my mind, seeing as she might be excited to have family going through the same things as her. To not be alone.

That's not a might, that's a definitely. So far the easiest way to tell when I had borrowed one of Aurora's memories was to simply pay close attention to my thoughts, and point out to myself what didn't make sense to think of as a human. I had just learned something about her, the fact that she was lonely.

I wasn't in the most sympathetic of moods right then. "Is it just one of them? Or-" I began asking Sam, whose footsteps were still audible behind me.

"Aside from Dad, I'm the last two-leg around." She informed me with a weak attempt at a chuckle. We reached the bottom of the stairs, and I continued straight through the living room and out the back door, arriving quickly at the porch. I don't even remember using any sort of magic to open the door, it just swung open when I walked up to it. I wouldn't have known I even used magic if I hadn't had felt the sudden warmth, though then again that could just be the warm summer air. It was sunny, really sunny. A bright summer's day with lazy clouds and a fresh wind blowing eastward. The sun was almost right above, making the entire plastic roof of the closed off deck glow angrily.

I finally stopped moving, having stopped right before the stairs that would lead into the wide open and shady backyard. Just a few steps more, and the open sky was mine. I can't even fly, why am I craving open spaces? Well, maybe I could fly, I just hadn't tried it yet. No, stop that. There are more important thing's to do than think about flying right now.

There was a deck chair in a very lounged out position to my right. I glanced at Sam, who was cross-armed and looking very uncomfortable in the bright sunlight. Okay, she's not taking that chair. I hopped up, then flopped down. laying in a sphinx-like position.

"Okay, one of us is comfortable, tell me the entire conversation." I requested, knowing I wasn't exactly going to like what I was going to hear.

Sam had finished explaining our Mom's conversation with her a few minutes ago now. I had begun feeling a dull feeling in my stomach, like pain but not quite. It was more like a feeling of being sick, but I was perfectly healthy. Remorseful, sorrowful, empathetic, sympathetic- "Sympathy is a pretty big one," I muttered to myself quietly, though not really saying anything aloud. Sam had already wandered back inside, leaving me with the news.

Mom had taken her transformation into a small furred creature with hooves about as well as I had. Only she hadn't accepted it, and was still freaking out. Dad was trying her best to comfort her, but there wasn't really much he could do so long as Mom thought that this was all permanent.

Sam came back out of the house, equipped with a pair of sunglasses on her face. She waltzed over to the fence of our deck, seeming to study the cool grass. I came over and joined her, rearing up and trying to lean on the fence as well. It didn't work so well when I was half her height, but resting my jaw on the fence totally counts.

"This is really screwed up. Everything." Sam stated, as if realizing this for the first time. I attempted to nod, but almost lost my dangerous balance on the bottom of the fence. Sam looked at me with pity, before lifting me up and placing me on top of the narrow wooden ledge. My wings shot out as I tried to find my balance, while Sam returned to her contemplative pose. I managed to find my missing balance, and sat down carefully. "Up until Mom, I really did think it was all fun and games, and that you weren't appreciating a good thing." Sam continued.

"Yeah. I kind of noticed that. If I recall you were almost yelling at me over it."

"Yeah, sorry." She said simply. Sam had never been good with apologies, but then again neither had I, so I knew exactly how hard it was for her to have this conversation.

"I just-" She tried, and gave up, evidently not liking the vocalization of the feelings she was having.

I laid a hoof on her shoulder, "Sam, I get it. I would have done the same thing. Neither of us are ever serious when we need to be."

"It's not that- Well, it is. It's more than-" A collection of moisture on her cheek surrounded by reddening skin told me she had been crying a fair bit when she had gone inside. She was probably wearing the sunglasses so I wouldn't have to see her like this, a shame it didn't really work.

In all her years of caring and looking after me, I had seen Sam cry maybe twice or three times. The rest of the time, I had gotten the impression that she was hardened and willful. Her original idea was to convince her little brother that she was some sort of super hero, so that he wouldn't cry. He wouldn't cry because Super Sammy was there, and she was the greatest and bravest Sister on earth.

I was about four or five years old, don't judge me.

"It's just- A little more than I thought it would be. I didn't really get what was going on. How many people this- This is effecting."

"I- Yeah. I Didn't get it either."

"Yeah you did. You got it and then you went and got over it. It happened to you and you got over it."

"And you can get over it too!"

Sam's face broke into a smile. "You too can get over it, for the low price of $9.99!" I shared her smile, and the conversation faded away. We gazed out at the tall hedge that marked the edge of our property, saying nothing. Sam mumbled something at one point, but aside from that we enjoyed the quiet company of early summer morning birds and an eerie lack of traffic noises. It could be that our house was isolated from the sounds of the roads, but of course no one would be driving today anyway. You know, seeing as everyone is trying their hardest not to panic at the furry talking things that used to be human.

It was a wonder I didn't hear screams or sirens anywhere. Then again, I still hadn't checked the news this morning, maybe everyone had started living in harmony and I was the only person having issues with being a pony.

Oh yeah, the news. Hadn't the government promised they would be issuing a bill or a declaration or some sort of state of emergency today? I really needed to check on that, see if being a pony was legal or whatever.

I could do that later though, right now I decided I would stay here and enjoy the peace and quiet with Sam.

Eventually my thoughts began to wander, as they always do. So Mom's a pony now. I mean, I guess my mother was always a pony, seeing as I'm a pony. It was getting easier to accept that, but it still didn't seem quite right. Leslie's mother is a pony now. I tried again, and found that it sounded right. Why does it sound right? What does right sound like? If a right falls in the forest, what sound does it make? How about a left?

I glanced over at Sam, but she was puzzling over her own thoughts so I decided to go back to mine. I really have to get my head together. That was definitely true. It felt both wrong and right to think of myself as Aurora, and that wasn't okay. I didn't want to be unsure of who I was and who I was supposed to be, I had already done that for most of my life. And just when I decided I wanted to put work aside and go to a film school, I stopped being who I had been up until now. Would Aurora want to go to film school? What does she want to do? What do I want to do?

I wanted to stop being so confused. Okay then. Operation Anti-confusion is a go. I just had to get a second opinion or two first. I directed my gaze towards Sam again and asked, "Hey Sis, what'cha thinking about?" As if I didn't know. Her thoughts were obviously going to be about Mom and what She-

"Actually, I'm wondering about this weird hole I saw last night."

-What? I wasn't quite expecting that, what interest could a hole possibly have? I decided to hold the question I had been planning to ask off until later. "A hole? Why a hole? What did it ever do to you? Seriously though, why are you thinking about holes at a time like this?"

"Oh, you know. It was a really interesting hole. Like, you should really see it." She told me, before looking away and walking back towards the house again. Come back! I need to ask you something for operation anti-confusion to work!

"What? Descriptions Sis! Use them!" I demanded with futility, as Sam opened the door and slipped into the house with nothing more than a sly smile. Does she expect me to just... Follow her? What if I had important things to do today, and didn't have luxury time to go follow her everywhere! I did have luxury time of course, but that wasn't the point! I trailed after her, my magic giving a gentle tug on the door, as it-

My head swam with dizziness, and I barely made it through the door I had just swung open violently. WOAH, what was that? I thought I was getting the hang of magic! Why am I on the verge of passing out again? As soon as I had felt the now somewhat familiar feeling, everything went wrong. My stomach crumpled up, and I got an absolute feeling of nausea for a split second.

I turned my head around to glare at the door, wondering what had gone wrong. I guess I was a little distant, but I shouldn't have gotten that kind of reaction! I turned my head back to see that Sam was leagues ahead of me, already slipping her running shoes on. She completely ignored the fact that I had almost knocked myself out again, and seemed focused on taking me out to whatever hole she had found. Must be a really interesting hole! I wonder if- I wondered, before realizing I wasn't sure what I was wondering about. Was that another of Aurora's 'almost thoughts?'

I was beginning to call the strange uncompleted thoughts I would get from time to time 'almost thoughts'. I was pretty sure they were from the original un-Leslie-ified Aurora's subconscious, but of course I could always just be crazy. I liked to think that I was getting messages from my original self though, like-

Okay, that was definitely an Aurora thought.

Sam finally gave a tug on the door, and nodded in my direction. "Hurry up Sis! I don't actually know if it's still there!" Before turning the corner and disappearing behind the wall. I cantered after her, and-

"Hold it! You want me to go out into public just like that? I'm not even dressed! I've never been in public like this!" I skidded to a stop just within inches of being officially outside for the first time as a pony. Huh, until I said it I hadn't even noticed I wasn't wearing clothes. I guess it just feels natural now.

"Well, does it need to be a momentous event? Do you need a drum roll?" Sam inquired, peeking her head back around the corner. "Come on Sis! You've been outside lots of times, just pretend you're wearing a fur coat. Which you kind of are, it's just a little more skin tight than most."

I gaped at her, "It really isn't as easy as you're making it sound! Everyone is going to see me! I can't just-"

She grabbed at my hoof and tugged, "You CAN just, now come on! It's like diving into a cold pool, you gotta do it all at once!" But I liked going in an inch at a time!

I shook my head and hoof, freeing the latter from Sam's clutches. "I really am not ready for this at all. Just, give me a second or two Sis." She stood up, and counted off the seconds on her fingers. "Stop that. I'm just not ready."

She sighed, and proceeded to walk towards the end of the driveway. "Okay, let me know when you're ready Sis. Just consider one little thing," she said as she turned back to face me, "You can't stay inside the rest of your life, why not get it over with while I'm still going to be right beside you?"

Ooh, good point. It was definitely better to do this while I was with Sam. Doing it alone would be ridiculous. I took a deep breath, raised a hoof towards the sunlit doorway, and-

"I can't do this it's too hard!" I blurted out, retracting my hoof and directing a pout towards Sam. She offered me a facepalm, in response I shrugged my wings. I turned my line of sight back to the doorway, wondering why this was so hard for me. Does Aurora have crippling social anxiety? What is my problem? It really is just going outside, and the being naked thing really doesn't bother me at this point. I had stopped caring about the clothing thing quite a while back, why was I using it as an excuse to avoid moving forwards in life?

I gave a sigh once more, and asked myself, What would Aurora do? I got no answer of course, because I was Aurora, and I was hoping for a response from myself. What would I do?

I wouldn't care what other people think, and I would go enjoy the bright summer day. My hoof brought itself forward, followed by the rest of my body. I'm a pegasus, and I spent most of my free time growing up flying around and gliding from cloud to cloud. I began building up a bit of momentum, and caught up to Sam in seconds. She gave me a thumbs up, and joined me in a light jog.

But I wasn't paying attention to her. I'm a pony, and if people want to stare or gawk then let them. It has no reason to bother me. Light jog continues, more at seven.

Why would I ever contain myself indoors when I have a whole world to enjoy out here? Indoors is small. Indoors is boring. When I'm indoors, I'm missing the entire purpose of being a pegasus. I sped up a bit more, Sam probably told me to slow down or take it easy, but no way was that happening. Not when I was like this. Not when I was finally beginning to understand. The reason to be Aurora, to be a pegasus. To finally enjoy my predicament for once.

To be free.

My wings gave a gentle flap or two, and my hooves tucked up close to my stomach. I began to glide down the street at a low altitude, before flapping again one or twice and then staying spread out. They tilted upwards ever so slightly, and I began to rise higher into the air. Sam was easily left behind now, as I approached ludicrous speeds. Certainly faster than Leslie had ever run. My tail flicked ever so slightly to the right, and any balance I had just been losing was restored. My gums were stretched into a smile of pure glee, as I glanced up. Two thousand meters or so to the nearest cloud. Should I risk it?

"That's not the right direction!" We're going to the park Sis!"

And just like that, all the Aurora-ish just vanished, and I was just Leslie in a pony body again. Only this time I was about eight meters off of the ground, and moving at about thirty miles an hour. My mind had time to think just three things.

Huh, Aurora works in metric. Was my first thought.

That was incredibly weird and unnerving. I should not do it again. Was my second.

The third thought was my most rational, as I looked down at the ground as thought to myself, I'm pretty high up. This is going to be a really painful landing.

Then panic set in, as I tried to determine how wings worked and why I had ever thought it was a good idea to use them. Aurora! Bad pony! Land before you let me take the wheel! I flapped my wings pretty desperately, and the ground rushed up to meet me. Fortunately instinct kicked in again at the last second, and my wings froze in place in an out stretched and slightly angled upwards position. I stopped losing height at about four feet from the ground, though the speed continued being a problem. I looked up, seeing only concrete, roads, lawns, and sub-urban homes around me. No where really too safe to crash-land, but I was going to have to find somewhere if I wanted to avoid smashing my bones.

Why would a creature so fragile be allowed wings! They're just doomed to death by crash! Terrible design choice really, though I guess wings are much safer to have if you know how to use them.

Okay, you can do this. Wings are simple to use. You understand the basic laws of aerodynamics right? I asked myself, knowing that my knowledge was pretty slim in that area. Air flows around rounded and then tapering off to a point wing and creates lift was about the extent of all I had ever expected I would need to know.

For someone who used to daydream about flying all the time, I really suck at this. I was safe when it came to height, but my speed was the most concerning problem I would ever face.

My hoof scraped the cement, and I got a free hoof-nail clipping. I was about three feet lower than I thought I had been. AHHHHHHHHHH! I mentally yelled, frantically wondering how in the world I was going to get out of this safely.

THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK GOT IT- I could angle my wings, just like I had earlier. Aurora had done it and gained a bunch of height, but it if my wings were angled enough they would act like a wind shield, effectively becoming air-brakes.

I know what air-brakes are! Why didn't I think of this earlier!? My wings flared upwards gently, and I gained height. If I had learned anything from all of this, it was that pegasi can glide surprisingly far at a shockingly low speed. I flared my wings just a bit more, and I began to watch my speed drop dramatically. The pressure of the wind on my wings was pleasant, and I wondered if pegasi had a positive chemical emotional response their brains released when they flew.

Just a bit more and- I must have angled my wings a little too much, because I suddenly found myself losing all the height I had just gained. -And that's that. Brace for impact!

It wasn't a proper crash, seeing as I hit the ground running and was able to easily bring myself to a stop afterwards. I was definitely close to crashing though. My hooves felt hot as trotted in place, having just gone from speeds faster than the human sprint record to standing still. Of course, I hadn't been moving at that speed the whole time, but I was certainly still going faster than the average sprinter when I landed.

I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. I could have just died.

I turned around and looked behind me, finding Sam much father behind than I had hoped for. I had at least a minute or so before she caught up, assuming she kept up her sprint. I began trotting towards her, wondering how the conversation would go down.

So yeah. Kinda just had my entire body and mind taken over by Aurora Drift. And then I got the controls back in mid-flight. Worried about my sanity yet? Oh yeah, that would go over well.

Or how about something a little more worrying, like: Hey Sis! So just want to tell you, I'm not entirely Leslie anymore. I kinda just went full pony, and I have no idea when that might happen again.

Or better yet: Yo! So I considered flying up about two thousand meters, but then halfway through I would have realized I don't know how to fly, and so I just nearly died. Sorry. Oh man, if I had actually followed through and flown up to the clouds I would totally be screwed. I wouldn't have had a chance of getting out of that.

There were a million ways that could have gone wrong, thank Celestia it went alright.

I stopped running. Okay, no. I know I'm trying to be okay with being Aurora, but she almost got me killed right there. I think I'm going to go back to being Leslie for a while. He doesn't nearly die very often. So if I could just stop with the ponyisms, it would make me so happy.

Sam caught up with me with a look of awe, and asked, "A little trouble with the landing there Sis?"

"A little trouble. Yeah." I replied, not quite sure how to tell her. What am I supposed to say? How exactly do I tell her what's going on with me? "So. Hole. In the park. We should head back to it."

Looks like I wasn't ready to tell her just yet.

I didn't think I was ready to tell myself. What had just happened was a bit beyond the occasional 'almost thoughts' and things I might say that didn't make sense. That was Aurora going all out, without even the tiniest hint of Leslie hiding anywhere. And the weirdest thing was that I hadn't been unable to control my body, I was simply not myself mentally. Or technically, I was myself. I was more myself than I ever have been yet.

What I had just experienced was being entirely Aurora, instead of just the memory lacking pony I had been pretending to be this whole time. She was happy, she was free, she was confident.

She wasn't much like me. Either I'm simply not ready to be her quite yet, or she's just that radically different from what Leslie was- What I was like. What I'm like right now. I really hoped that I wouldn't have to go through anything like that again anytime soon.

I followed Sam at a much more reasonable pace this time, noticing that despite everything I had just experienced I still wasn't actually breathing hard. I wasn't sweating either, though that wasn't much of a surprise seeing as most animals didn't really sweat in the same way humans did.

The park was at least another two blocks away, so I began to chat. Not asking or telling anything important, just chatting. "So, I suppose I have to ask where you went last night sooner or later."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I figured the hospitals would be full-"

"Yeah, I thought that too."

"And so I went to go check up on my friends."

"Oh? Like Ramona? Or-"

"Just Ramona." She answered, as we passed by a small rose bush. I gave it a quick sniff as I walked by, and it was shockingly delightful. Pony noses are about twice as powerful as they have any right to be, at that moment I could smell the smoggy but faint pollution of the city, the freshly mowed grass of the houses on the opposite side of the street, and the faintest of all hint of barbecue sauce on Sam's pants. She was about three feet ahead of me, and yet I could smell her pants as if I had my nose pressed to them.

"So how was she?"

"Oh- You know. She turned into a Stallion. Freaking out about her life and her gender, I'm sure you've been there. I've started calling her Romeo."

Woah woah woah. Ramona is a Stallion now? Sam sure was bad at actually telling me things. Ramona was mainly her friend for sure, but I was the one that introduced the two of them. And Sam hadn't told me until just now? Geez Sam, what else are you forgetting to tell me? It's not like I was keeping anything important from her-

Oh. I guess somethings are better left unsaid.

"Oh yeah, definitely been there."

"Not there anymore though? Accepted being little Miss Aurora Draft?"

"Drift" I corrected instantaneously, before my mind actually began to process the question. Had I accepted it? Or was I still struggling to hold onto being Leslie?

"Well, I thought I had, but the part of me that's still Leslie hasn't slipped away entirely yet. It'll be sad when he's gone though."

Oh tell me I did not just say that out loud. If Sam begins to suspect that her brother is- "Ha! Right 'Aurora'. It sure will be." -Joking. She totally thought I was joking. My life is still ongoing, my heart hasn't stopped yet.

How many times could I pass it off as a joke though? And what do you mean 'slipped away entirely'? I thought I was still mostly here! My mind wasn't a rational place anymore. Was I Leslie or Aurora? Did I want Sam to know the truth or not? I probably need professional help.

The missing section of fence that signified the park's entrance loomed before us, and we curved our paths neatly to allow for an optimal angle of entry.

"So really. what kind of hole are we looking for?" I thought for sure Sam would actually tell me now that we were here.

"Oh, you'll know when you see it." I really should have known better. She guided me off the trail, and towards a patch of trees seemingly of no consequence. There was a tiny clearing in the midst of it, and in the middle was-

"Umm, what am I looking at?" I questioned, really wanting to know. What my eyes were reporting to me had to be wrong. It was a bright white light, and very much wrong. It appeared to be floating, and so very wrong. I was strangely drawn to it, and I still couldn't express just how wrong it was.

"Yeah. That's my hole. It's a hole in the universe." Well no wonder it was wrong, holes weren't supposed to be poked in the universe. The universe was supposed to be one solid thing, with no holes. Holes in the universe have never been good.

"And I'm certain that this entire pony fiasco was caused by this thing. Or maybe a bunch of these things. Either way, this thing is trouble." Sam reached out, and began pulling me backwards by the tail. I blinked, realizing I had gotten about six feet closer to it than I wanted to be without even realizing it.

I sat down to ensure I didn't get any closer, and stared at it. Sam pulled a small camera out of her pocket, and joined me on the ground.

Neither of us really had anything to say, so I sat in silence for a while.

"So, hole in the universe," I examined.

"Sure is," Samantha replied, taking a picture and frowning. What is there to say when you're staring at something like this? We could... Talk about how impossible it is.

"Camera got it, so I know it's actually there. And not, you know, a shared hallucination." Sam informed me. Well, I wasn't worried that it was. Sam probably had been though, I couldn't imagine seeing something like this and not wondering if I had lost my mind. Fortunately, my mind was mostly gone already, so I had nothing new to worry about.

I'm going to have to tell her soon. I realized, knowing my time of being alone with the truth about Aurora had to come to an end. I couldn't just keep her bottled away and pretend to be Leslie forever, I- She wanted to be free, and who was I to stop mysel- Her?

Sam needed to know about me- Her. While she still had enough brother left to relate to. I was freaking out about this earlier wasn't I? Back when I still thought I was Leslie and was terrified I was going to lose my memories. Now here I am with all those old memories, but I really shouldn't have been worried about those. I had already accepted being Aurora, it was inevitable so there wasn't any point in protesting. Why was I protesting now? Leslie is finally slipping away, I really am just going to be Aurora now. I'm going to have to accept that. Hadn't I already accepted that? I wasn't sure anymore.

"Sam, I have something kind of serious to tell you." I began, wondering how in the world I was going to pull this off.

"We're staring at a hole in the universe, I expect serious things right now." She claimed, though I knew she really wasn't going to be expecting what I had to tell her.

How did I tell her? This didn't have a possible way of going right. "It's something I've really needed to talk to you about long before this."

"Like, years ago long?"

"Oh, no. Just- Just since last night." How do I start out? Do I just throw it out there? Do I sneak it in and hint at it? My chest was feeling tight, It was probably just anxiety. This was a big thing to tell her after all. "Okay, so you know that pony I've become right?"

"Yes, Aurora Drift. A pretty good flyer as far as I can tell, but then again she's the only pegasus I've seen in real life so far."

"I'll take that as a compliment. That makes me both the best and worst flying horse you've ever seen." Getting side tracked, bring the conversation back. "Anyway, say that hypothetically, I was Leslie, and that I was slowly taking on the personality of Aurora. Like, I wasn't just gaining her memories, but I was actually beginning to think of myself as her."

"Hypothetically right? This isn't already going on?" Well, do I lie or let the cat out of the bag? I could just tell her that it already happened. I didn't, "Right, of course."

"Okay, go on."

"I- What's your reaction once it happens? If it happens."

Sam bit her lip, and shrugged. "Well, if you start being Aurora instead of Leslie, it means I really don't have a brother anymore. Can't say I'd be too happy about that."

Not being too happy is definitely to be expected, I'd be furious if my sister disappeared. I wasn't sure if I had a sister- As Aurora that is. What was Aurora's family like? I'll worry about that later, for now I have to worry about Leslie's family.

"Yeah, that's to be expected. Okay, say that Aurora kept all of Leslie's old memories, so while the individual is named Aurora, she still remembers what it's like to be Leslie. It's just that, now she's-"I paused, unsure of what to say. "-she's..." I was running out of descriptions.

"Okay, so she's still got everything that's left of Leslie in her mind, and now she's recovering all her old memories. So I take it she's lost and confused, and unsure of who she is anymore."

"I- yeah, that sounds about right. Add on a feeling of guilt for having replaced Leslie, and we've got an Aurora."

Sam stood up, pulling me into a close hug. Wait what? "I don't care what you think your name is, or even what gender you are. You're my sibling, and you don't have to be lost or confused. I'm right here for you."

I blinked. I wasn't quite expecting a positive reaction, I had my mind set on angry shouting, maybe even a few tears. But Sam doing this? I wrapped my hooves around her back, and pulled her closer. "Sis- I was- I just- This is just hypothetical right?"

She giggled, "Of course not. I know exactly what's going on here. I know the truth.

She knew the truth, that was a bit surprising. Maybe she had known it for quite a while. "How did you-"

"I figured it out last night. Or at least, that's part of what helped me figure it out. I told you that you were worthy of the name Aurora, and you looked disappointed,"

I had? I didn't even know. When she had told me that last night I wasn't exactly paying attention to my facial expressions. She continued, "It was like you were upset, and I thought it was because you were hoping for a better name at first. But now it's pretty clear. You were disappointed because you felt you didn't need to do anything to be worthy of your own name."

I was at a bit of a loss. "I- I did? I think you might be reading into this a bit too far Sis."

She smiled, "Maybe, but I told you I wanted to be a psych major, right? Reading too far into things is what I wanted to do!" That- Isn't what psychology is about, but okay...

Sam set me back down on the ground, and I looked to my right. "Uh, Sam?" She followed my gaze, and jumped in surprise. We had somehow moved to within inches of the hole without even realizing it. My feather trailed right along the edge of it, and I froze in shock.

It was definitely a source of pure magic, I could feel the warmth and life pouring out of it. Or was it pouring out? It felt to me more like it was pouring in. Either way, the magic in this area was extremely turbulent. I hadn't thought to close my eyes and see the flows of magic until now, but it was seeming like a good idea.

I began to close my eyes, and noticed that my ears weren't working anymore. My eyes shot open again. I looked at Sam, who was asking something with a bit of panic in her eyes, but I couldn't quite hear it. The sounds of the park, the bird whistles and tree branches quivering in the wind were gone, all I heard was the pounding of my heart.

I looked back at the hole, and noticed something pink and red trailing into it, flapping gently. My stupid tail, I really had to get that thing cut. I tried to take a step away, but my hooves froze solid.

My tail was trapped, and I wasn't going anywhere.

Well, actually I was going somewhere. The hole was beginning to pull me in. Sam reached out towards me, gripping my hoof desperately. I finally heard her voice, which was now filled with determination. "I am not losing both my Sister and my Brother in the same day!"

The hole did not agree, seeing as I suddenly lurched backwards, my entire lower body feeling warm and magical. I looked down, and noticed my body was glowing the same white colour as the hole. I couldn't feel my hooves anymore.

I lurched backwards again, and Sam frowned. "This can't be it. I had a good life going, I don't want to-" I started saying, before I lurched backwards once more, pulling Sam head over heels and straight into the void with me. "Sorry!" was my last word.

Going somewhere?

Something tickled my face, and I attempted to open my eyes. It was a bit of a struggle, like trying to get up when your bed was too comfortable. My eyes simply didn't seem to want to stay open. I tried to move my hooves, but they were equally sluggish.

I had never really been a morning person, so I didn't really think much of my inability to move. Sleeping just isn't the same anymore. I tried to use my lethargic hooves to pull my eyelids open, but I could barely bring them to my face.

My vision flickered, and I was sure I saw something green.

Where was I? How much time had passed? What was going on? I tried to collect my thoughts, and find some answers. Okay, you fell into a weird hole in the universe. Sam was with you. Where are you now? I had a feeling of dampness settling into my fur, and gentle tickles along my body that felt like... Grass?

Am I laying on the ground? I tried to open my eyes again, but they remained shut. I decided I must be dreaming or something, it made sense after all. When someone was asleep, and they tried to open their eyes or move in real life, it often felt like this. Okay, so how I get myself awake? I wondered. I didn't try to wake myself up very often, I liked sleep most of the time. I hoped my inexperience with forcing myself awake wasn't going to be something I would regret in the near future.

What was it with being Aurora and sleeping? It seemed to be all she ever did! Couldn't I just stay awake one full day?

The grass was unusually comfortable, and it must have still been early morning as I could feel the light warmth of the sun radiating onto my fur. I didn't seem to be in the original clearing where I had fallen into the hole, I could tell by the quality of the grass. The original clearing was rather small, and surrounded by tree roots and rocks. The grass I lay on now was top quality, seeming to be like the grass you might find on a golf course or something. Judging by the feeling of sunshine, I definitely wasn't concealed by any shade, but there were certainly trees around. I could hear at least one family of birds chirping away contentedly. The air was warm, but not uncomfortably so. It was easy to tell that summer was definitely here.

Why did I want to get up and leave? Surely a place like this wasn't actually dangerous or anything, and I obviously had somehow found my way out the hole in the universe, so I didn't have to worry about that anymore.

I wonder where Sam is? Is she around, enjoying the sun too? I tried to struggle myself awake one last time, realizing that I couldn't lay here unless I knew my Sister was safe.

"Hey, there's a pony on our lawn, Will." A surprisingly familiar voice informed someone named Will. Will? Isn't that my Dad's name? And that voice sounds like-

"There is? Oh, so there is. Don't worry Kathy, I'll get him to move along." An equally familiar voice answered.

"Her- That's a mare, Will."

"Whatever. This is our vacation spot, and you're the only pony I'm letting stay here." The voices sounded a lot like some people I knew, some people that I should have been nowhere near. The thought that I might know these people was enough to allow my eyes to cooperate and open for me. My neck cooperated too, and turned around to help me gawk at the pony-human couple standing on a nearby porch.

The sun was understandably bright, seeing as I had just had my eyes closed for an unknowable amount of time. But it wasn't bright enough to stop me from recognizing my Father, and the pony that I assumed was my mother.

My Dad was a pretty well rounded guy. He liked to go camping and fishing and all those usual Dad things, and he liked to wear goofy shirts and be an internet geek. He was taller than I had been, at about 6'1, and his black hair suited his paleish skin. His jaw was rather rounded, and though he wasn't too skinny he definitely wasn't very beefy either. He had done a great deal of jobs throughout his life, and I wasn't sure what he did for a living even now.

Mom was a shocking contrast to how I had remembered her. She had been almost as tall as Dad, though with a much more defined figure. She usually wore glasses, and it suited her veterinarian look. She was an actual veterinarian, though I don't think she liked animals to the point of wanting to be one.

But she was one now. Her coat was rather pale, not quite white but certainly a very pale grey. Her mane was a mid-shade of green, and looked pretty plain. I noticed that she had attempted to put on clothes, ending up with an old hoodie and a pair of shorts hanging loosely on her body. Her face was free of glasses now, and I wondered whether or not becoming a pony had actually fixed her vision.

Her hoodie hung just loosely enough that I could see a hint of a cutie mark, though I couldn't quite make out what it was. Probably something to do with vet work. I thought of the plain space on my haunches, wondering why I didn't get a cutie mark when I was Aurora, an actual pony.

I wasn't quite sure how to react. I couldn't remember if Sam had told them I was a pony or not, and I didn't know how they felt or would feel about it.

I was sure about one thing though. It wasn't possible that I was here. Somehow I had gone from my hometown, in the middle of the Fraser Valley, in British Columbia, out to where my parents had been vacationing. Which was on Vancouver Island.

The two places were separated by a rather sizable body of water, and it would have been no easy feat for someone to carry me from point A to point B without me waking up.

Did I fall into a hole and wake up hundreds of miles from where I started? There had to be more than one of those holes in the world, it didn't seem impossible that I could fall into one and tumble out another.

But what did seem impossible would be tumbling out HERE, in front of my parents.

The vacation home was a nice pale blue two story home, that looked comfortably modern. It's backyard led into one of the many forests that crowded Vancouver Island, and it was isolated to a surprising degree. Not having a car wasn't an option around here, unless you felt like walking several kilometers to the nearest neighbour. My parents called the isolation nice and peaceful, but I called it living too far away. I wasn't quite sure what Sam called it, maybe I should ask her next I see her.

I just had to know where she was, because she certainly wasn't anywhere around me.

"You know, just because you're a pony doesn't mean you can just park yourself on anyone's property, young lady." My pony-mother informed me, rolling her eyes. I wonder if she knew that not everyone had kept their original gender after they had changed.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't quite mean too." I responded, looking down at the ground and trying not to look guilty. To my parents I probably reminded them of another 'young lady' who had passed out on our lawn on her way home after a house party in our neighborhood last year. Only that had been Sam's friend Ramona, and that had been a lawn I had just been running along just this morning.

How in the world had I ended up here? It just didn't seem possible that I would end up on my parent's vacation home. Any other place in the world might have made sense, but here?

"I wouldn't expect that you did. Is your home very far from here? I understand that walking is a problem for a lot of ponies." My mother answered, ever concerned with the well being of strangers.

"Uh, Kathy?" Dad interrupted, more than likely a bit unwilling to go along with helping a strange pony on his lawn. Chances are Mom was going to offer said strange pony a ride, and he would end up driving. He was likely a bit worried that once he gave one pony a ride, how long would it be before he was giving out free rides to every pony who needed one? Lots of people were probably in need of help right now, he couldn't help everyone!

Or at least, that was the silent argument I heard as my parents shared a single glance. "It's only one pony, Will. Helping one pony does not mean I'm asking you to help every pony." Bingo, I may not be the same son I once was, but I can still follow their lines of thought.

Will was a bit lost, "That's actually not what I was worried about. We have to call Sam soon, I was wondering if you wanted to or if I should?"

Mom's ears twitched, and she frowned heavily. "I don't think I'm ready yet. I really don't want to think about any of this. I'm trying to stay calm over here, but if I talked to Sam I think I might just-" She looked down at the ground with an expression of worry. Oh yeah, hadn't Mom called Sam earlier this morning? And broken down on the phone? I thought she was taking this pretty well now, but she probably wasn't doing as well as she looked.

I glanced up at the sun, a bit curious of something. I wasn't quite sure of what time it was, and I wondered how long it had been since Mom had called Sam the first time.

"I'm sorry, but you could you tell me what time it is? And what day?" I added on the part about the day just in case I had somehow been unconsciously floating in the void for a couple of days or something. I currently suspected that I had fallen into the void yesterday morning, and somehow woken up here. That would mean that this was day three since the ponification.

"It's about eight in the morning, June twenty-third, a Sunday morning." Dad filled me in, reassuring me that I was existing on the right day.

Except that wasn't the right day. The ponification had begun on Friday night, and I had spent my day of being passed out on Saturday. When I had gotten up, after Sam told me that Mom had called, it had been about nine o' clock. ON SUNDAY.

My tail gave itself a flick, and I stood up. Somehow the hole in the universe had dropped me a couple of hours backwards in time.

Sam and I had a saying, that was simple and easy to remember. If ever either of us time traveled, we had to avoid panicking and avoid causing any paradoxes.

The second part was pretty easy, I was hundreds of miles away from my past self, so it wasn't likely I could shove myself out of the way of the hole or anything. I could call Sam and tell her not to go near the hole, but I would probably end up letting her know I had time traveled. At which point she would hang up, and ignore anything I had told her to do, to avoid causing any paradoxes.

The first part was my main concern right now, seeing as panicking is something I do quite well. It was actually surprising that I didn't have a cutie mark in panicking.

I time traveled. I just stepped into a hole and woke up in the past. I took a deep breath, several of them in fact. I stood up, and walked around in a circle, before stopping and wondering what I was doing.

"Are you okay?" My Dad asked, "I told you the time and now you look like you've seen a ghost. Or at least I think that's the expression I'm getting. Is that what she looks like Kathy?" He looked over at his still saddened wife, who was now looking at me curiously. She gave a nod.

I glanced over at the two of them, wondering what to say. I was in front of my parents, before they called Sam, who would let me know, only she was letting me know hours ago, and here I was before I knew. Knowing.

I think my brain is going to melt. Turning into a pony is fine. Seeing a hole in reality is fine. Time travel? Well I had to draw a line somewhere.

I realized I was acting very strangely and saying almost nothing to the Keegard couple, so I decided to try and fix that. I took a deep breath, and tried to remember what I had just been asked a few seconds ago. "Um, I guess I'm probably alright. Maybe." I said in a very unsure manner. Dad asked if I was okay right? I had to focus, but it was hard when my mind was trying to process the reality of what was happening.

Sometimes a mind would accept things if they were simply too hard to truly understand. Hundreds of thousands of people turning into ponies one summer Saturday. That was fine, It was an unbelievable number. My mind couldn't quite handle it, so it pushed it away. Accepting it because it didn't have to deal with it. It wasn't a problem I could solve, let alone understand. I couldn't worry about it.

Time travel though, was something my mind could handle. I had thought about the way time travel worked plenty of times. It was something I could understand. And in understanding, I could worry about it. And right now, I was definitely worrying.

I still didn't know how time worked, it could be that time worked in lines, and that time travel was jumping forwards or backwards on these lines. Maybe you might have a phone and a microwave, and you might be able to jump yourself into a different timeline somehow.

Or maybe time was made of loops, or squiggles. Or maybe it was just a big wibbly wobbly ball of stuff that I could never hope to understand.

I didn't need to understand how time worked at the moment, I just needed to know that I had moved through it, and that my life might never be the same. Well, duh. You already turned into a pony, how much more different could your life get?

"You really don't sound alright. How did you get here? What happened to you sweetie?" My mother asked, trying in vain to help a 'strange pony.'

I tried to smile, but I was too busy hyperventilating. I had to calm down, time travel didn't mean the end of the world. Maybe. It could if I caused a paradox, but- I couldn't worry about it right now. Well, while it doesn't mean the end of the world just yet, It does mean that things just got really complicated. It was ridiculous to think that stepping on a butterfly might end the universe. But I had time traveled. There was no telling what any sort of thing I might do might accomplish. I had only gone back a couple of hours, but-

This is what I mean when I say I panic too easily. I slowed down my breath, trying to smile at the poor confused souls who were now giving me odd looks. I had gone from sleeping to panicking in about a minute, so needless to say they had reason to suspect I wasn't doing well. They might even suspect that I might turn violent next, so calming down became a must.

"Alright, well I slept a little more than I thought I would." I lied, seeing as I had gotten negative sleep. I wondered briefly if I should tell my parents who I actually was, but decided against it. They'd find out eventually, but I really wasn't ready to tell them.

"I'm sorry about sleeping on your lawn, I guess I'll be on my way." I offered to leave, which knowing my Mom's kind heart was essentially my ticket indoors.

"Oh no! It's no trouble at all! What's the point of a lawn if you can't lay on it every now and then. You should come inside!" My mother said cheerily, earning a look of concern from my father.

"I- That's really kind of you. I haven't got anywhere to go, so I guess it couldn't hurt." Dad was a stickler for polite people, so I tried to drag myself into his good graces too. I began to trot towards the house, trying to come up with a story for myself. I stopped myself from trotting at my absolute best however, as I decided that my level of walking was a bit too good for the pony I was going to pretend to be. I couldn't just tell them the truth, that would be ridiculous. What kind of person goes around telling the truth, surely it could only result in problems! I thought sarcastically, though still knowing that the truth actually would just complicate things more for me.

"No where to go! That's awful! Tell me all about it!"

Seriously though. I traveled through time! How many other people got to say they had done that in their lifetimes? I wasn't sure if I would ever being amazed by the sheer fact that it actually happened! I hadn't even gone anywhere interesting, but still!

I found myself sitting comfortably on a couch, nearly an hour or so later. I had several ideas for stories, but obviously not all of them would work. I had considered grand tales of escape, to heart wrenching tales of an epic journey to find the parents of Leslie Keegard, as I was his secret lover that had turned into a pony, and had sought out his parents for their comfort when their son had rejected me for my change into a pony.

Needless to say I abandoned the idea of that story pretty quickly.

I had to tell them something though, so I ended up just keeping it simple. I was some girl who had turned into a pony, freaked out, and run away from home. Later on I passed out on their lawn, and here I was. It was so simple that I was terrified they would never believe it, but they bought into it a little too much.

The following hour had been spent filling in tiny details for the life of a girl named Megan, who had technically never existed. It was the most stressful hour of my life, as I was terrified of making a single slip-up or contradiction through out the story. Creating an entire life from scratch was nigh impossible. Creating a family for that life and giving them personalities and back stories of their own was just plain ridiculous.

But I had done it, on my own, and my parents had mistaken the anxiety I had felt for sadness at having run away from my family. I wished that Sam had been here so that I could get a high-five for my struggle.

"Oh dear, look at the time, we were supposed to call our daughter. Sorry to interrupt your lovely story, but I have to go do something." My mother informed me, leaning and falling off the couch, before struggling to take her hooves over to the phone.

"That's okay," I replied, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. I had been running out of things to say about the brother I didn't have. I really should have claimed to be an only child. Or an orphan. With no family at all. That would have made things so much easier.

"Kath, you don't have to, I could do it if you wanted." Dad chimed in, watching her stumble over with concern. It must have been hard for him to deal with this. Mom had always been so graceful and independent, and now she could barely make a phone call.

I wondered how she planned to dial and hold the phone, when she spoke up. "That's fine Sweetie, I'll talk to her, could you just dial this thing and hold it for me?" Ah, well that's one way of doing things.

Dad jumped up right away, ready to help. I continued sitting on the couch, aware I was about to hear my mother cry. I had felt sick the first time, and I hadn't even heard the original conversation. Was I going to be in tears by the end of this, or worse? I hoped my emotions wouldn't get the better of me, what would happen if I jumped up to comfort her, or told her that her son was there for her? I couldn't help her at all, and sitting here watching everything unfold didn't sound too enjoyable.

"Mind if I go use the bathroom?" I inquired, to which I got a quick nod from Dad, who was dialing. Mom was busy biting her lip, likely trying to figure out what she could say.

I wondered if they would remember that I wasn't supposed to know where the bathroom was, but they forgot all about me for the time being. So I was free to find it on the first try 'by accident' without any suspicion from the couple. I headed down the hallway, taking the second left 'by accident' and sneaking in.

I looked back at my parent's, as William and Kathy Keegard stood together, trying to get through everything together, never giving up on each other. It was surprising that Kathy could be upset when she had a husband as caring as that. "Couldn't you just put it on speaker phone?" I called down the hall, getting a look of surprise and then an awkward laugh as Will pressed a button and set the phone down. Dad stood up, walking over to the dining room and leaving Mom by herself.

Oh, oops. I killed the sentimental moment. Now he isn't there for her. I slipped into the bathroom, a little embarrassed. It figures that just when I think of how close my parents look, I find someway to drive them apart.

I closed the bathroom door gently, and blinked in the darkness. Why did I come into the bathroom? Nature isn't calling me. I didn't want to hear the gush of emotion I expected my Mom would let forth, but what was I supposed to do now that I was here? I placed a hoof upon the wall, before lifting myself up hoof by hoof into a bipedal stance. One hoof found the light switch, and I gave it a quick flick.

Smiling, I turned to meet my reflection in the mirror once again. My eyes met the purple eyes that looked back, before the noticed something a little more curious. My flank was still bare, I still had no cutie mark.

Why don't I have cutie mark? I wasn't sure why it was important to me, I hadn't needed one yet. A thought stirred at the back of my mind, before making itself known an alarming me. I used to have a cutie mark.

I did? What happened to it? Where did it go? The Aurora thoughts that sometimes stirred at the back of my mind were quiet, and offered no answer.

I hopped up onto the counter, keeping my eyes level with my reflection's purple.

I wished getting answers about my life as Aurora was simpler. If I could just ask a question and she would reply, Oh here you go! Have an answer! It would make my life so much easier just to be able to know things for sure.

Why was I so sure I was Aurora? What happened to Leslie? Was I Leslie to start with, or did I steal his memories, or his entire body? Was I Aurora, or Leslie, before the ponification? What was up with everyone turning into ponies anyway? How did that happen? Did Aurora even know?

I always liked having answers more than I did questions, but sometimes I had to acknowledge that I lived in a world where you might not always get answers. You might have questions that still haunt you after you die, and no one will ever know the answers.

But it really wasn't fair! Surely I had to get some answers eventually, but aside from a few tiny flukes, and one pretty big one where Aurora had gotten my wings to work, It seemed that I wasn't any closer to knowing who I was.

Who was that purple-eyed pony in the mirror, why did she look so confused? Actually I can answer both of those. She is who I am, and she's confused because I'm confused. The mare in the mirror sent me back a frown. And now she's upset, because she wants to have answers, and feels she might never get them.

The mirror pony finally sent back a sigh, and an ear flop that I took to mean that she felt, Helpless, and now probably a little worried that she's crazy because she is on the verge of talking to herself in the mirror.

I wished that talking to Aurora was as easy as talking to a mirror. Like, it would be great if her reflection would just come alive and respond. Even if she couldn't talk, it would still be better than what I had now.

I wondered if this was what it was like to have amnesia. A total lack of knowledge about your life. The only way to know about yourself was either to let your memories return with time, Which I've heard doesn't necessarily always happen, or to have someone tell you about your past.

Of course, most amnesia typically came from brain damage, which meant that the amnesiac might be unable to retain the knowledge one someone tells them. Or that they might drool a bit instead of listening to what they were being told.

Yesterday morning, in the shower, I had begun receiving memories of Equestrian plains and meadows. AND THEN I SHOOK THEM AWAY. Well I certainly regretted it now. Any memories had to be better than no memories, right? The biggest thing I had reclaimed as an Aurora memory had to be that I had once had a cutie mark. It didn't help me understand what she was like, what her favorite color was, what her family was like, or her favorite food. I didn't even get to know what the cutie mark looked like. All I knew was that she was me.

I was probably going to fall into circles again, being angry that I didn't know anything about her and glaring angrily at that pony in the mirror.

And then wishing I had a way to know about her.

I needed a new perspective. Wishing to know about her wasn't helping anyone. What good could it do to wish to know about yourself? Hey, there's an idea! New perspective. Don't ask what Aurora is like, ask what you're like!

I was certain I had tried that already, at least once or twice, but I had to give it at least one more try. What am I like? What is- I had questions, I didn't have answers. There wasn't much point in asking if you knew you weren't going to get a response. I had to try a question I could answer instead. What is your favorite colour? That had to be the most simple question of all time.

My favorite color used to be green, but what was it now? Green was Leslie's favorite color. I can't just borrow his, that's not creative enough. Creative? Was I a creative pony? Did I have something against things that didn't seem creative?

I still hadn't answered my simple question. Blue? No, too many people take blue. It's too common. Pink? Too common for girls, if I took pink people might think it's just because I'm a girl now. Red? Red is my least favorite colour. It's overused and people seem to give it more credit than it needs. Too many things in this world are red. Apparently Aurora had strong feelings on the color red. Leslie certainly hadn't minded red. Well he didn't get dressed up in a frilly red dress and hate it when he was four years old.

Fair point, I would hate it if- that happened to me? Which apparently it did?

First a realization about my cutie mark, and then an admission about disliking frilly red dresses. For something that happened in my past! I had had two Aurora thoughts in the past two minutes, that was definitely a record for me. The mare in the mirror met me with a smile, and her tail flicked upwards in a manner that I assumed represented positive emotions. I wasn't sure about pony body language, but if I could remember two things about my old life then who knew? Maybe one day I could be able to tell what my ears and tail were signalling.

I still didn't know my favorite colour, but maybe one day that might change too. Maybe one day I might remember. I just had too keep asking, and give it time-

Purple. It seems like I like my eyes, and people think I'm egotistical because of it. But they can throw a shoe, purple is a nice colour. -I could give it time, or apparently I could receive my answer quite suddenly and spontaneously. The pony in the mirror was equally surprised, letting me know that my jaw had dropped. My eyes had widened into pure joy, and I prepared my spirit to be crushed when no further hints at my life came.

I allowed myself some optimism, and sent out a second question. I didn't expect it would be answered, but even the progress I had made so far was enough to leave me content for hours. What is my favorite thing about being a pegasus? Wait, that was a terrible question. My favorite thing was flying, duh! I racked my brain for more questions, but I was suddenly drawing a blank. A million questions, but no words to ask them.

Of course, asking something wouldn't have worked anyway, that wasn't how the background thoughts of Aurora worked. They came at random, when I least expected them. Sometimes I wouldn't notice them, and sometimes they would be glaringly obvious. Sometimes they corrected a view of perspective, other times they took over and took me flying. I wasn't sure how I felt about the latter ones, they seemed to be dangerous.

I didn't ask a question, and as such got no answer. That was fine though, I was plenty happy with what I had. Just knowing that I still had a chance of learning, even after shaking away my chances for direct memories, was plenty good enough for now. I decided to leave the counter, and go see how the phone call with Sam was going.

I flopped backwards in my usual fashion, wings spreading and slowing my fall while my front hooves absorbed the shock in a way that I would probably never stop being in wonderment over. There were plenty of things I could be wonderment over, such as the fact that I was actively standing in the past, permanently a few hours older than I should be. Or I could be amazed that I had conjured an entire life for the Megan I was pretending to be, without even a hint of suspicion from my parents.

But no, I was amazed by my hooves being so squishy and shock-proof. My mind was probably in a weird place right now.

I reached a hoof up to the door-knob, and tried to give it a turn. My hoof felt- Oh, hang on. My hoof didn't feel the warm lively flow that I associated with magic. I tried again, but to no avail.

My hooves appeared to be magic-less. Had I still been looking in the mirror, I would have seen myself blink and tilt my head in surprise.

I brought my front-right hoof back down, before exchanging it with my front-left hoof. I knew the feeling to look for, I knew how to use magic with my hooves. But there was only a feeling of cold metal to meet me. Okay, let us try the more flashy magic. I closed my eyes, trying to initiate my sixth sense, to see the flow of magic through out the room. I got nothing.

I tried to work with what I had, and ignore the lack of magic-vision. I just had to focus, and my eyes would glow, my tongue would taste pomegranate, and the door handle would-

Do nothing, because apparently I had lost my magic while I wasn't looking. I stood there silently, unsure of what to do. I- kind of needed that. Where did it go? What happened to it? I was concerned for sure, but more than that I was mainly surprised. How had I not noticed before now? You would I think I might notice myself being separated from a force that was constant and everywhere, but apparently it had simply slipped my mind.

I stared blankly at the door, wondering what I should do now. Instead of magic, I had tiny pieces of Aurora's life. I was happy about one, but it seemed likely my good mood was destined to vanish now.

"Um, hello?" I called through the door, wondering if one of my parents might be able to hear me and come to my rescue. I was in the same boat as every other pony on the planet now, stuck without magic and relying on humans that had fingers and could open doors to rescue me. It was a terrible fate, except when I remembered that literally every other pony had the same problem. I hadn't lost anything that I couldn't live without. It was of course, sad to see it go, but I had to wave goodbye to my magic. I couldn't let myself get stuck simply because one of my unexpected resources had disappeared, I had to move on.

So I did, focusing again on being happy that I still had a few more glimpses into Aurora's past life. "One second, on my way." I heard Will's voice call, as he strode over to open my door.

What do you mean gone? Magic doesn't just disappear! I want it back! Aurora's thoughts flared to life, apparently a little more upset at the situation than I was.

I was ecstatic! Four Aurora thoughts in just two minutes! Sure one of them wasn't a memory, it was more of an outraged outburst, but it still counted. But while I had started out quite elated, I began to feel the influence of Aurora's thought. It didn't matter if hundreds of thousands of ponies didn't have magic. I did have magic! I enjoyed having magic! Take away my memories, take away my mane or my tail, but don't take my magic! I need that to fly! pegasus wings can't work to their fullest without magic! My thoughts revealed, and my breath caught in my throat.

They can't? WHAT? Then I do need magic! Walking everywhere is fine, but what's the point of wings if I can't use them! I demand my magic back! I reached a hoof to meet the door knob again, hoping that my will power would restore itself. I didn't need the unicorn telekinesis, but the passive hoof magic was probably quite similar to whatever flying magic was. When I had flown earlier today, Though technically later today, I had felt some sort of something spreading into my feathers. I hadn't really been paying attention to it then, seeing as I was suddenly falling towards the ground immediately afterwards.

But if I needed magic to fly, then I was in big trouble. Flying wasn't something I could just shrug off as not important. I was pegasus, and it was as Sam had said: 'What kind of pegasus doesn't like flying?'

At the time I hadn't been in a mood to care, coincidentally because I was too busy caring about magic. As time had gone on, I had found myself caring more and more about whether I could fly or not. And then I had actually flown. It was terrifying but before it was terrifying it had been wonderful, and I found myself yearning for that feeling of wonder more and more.

Dad pushed the door open gently, at met the eyes of a concerned pegasus who was currently biting her lip. "I imagine my daughter has a similar expression right now. Kathy isn't going easy on her." He sighed, glancing back at his wife with longing in eyes. "I wish I could tell her everything is going to be okay, but obviously things just aren't going to be okay. I mean, you know how hard it is to be a pony, both of you girls are going through some tough times."

I nodded, "Yeah, tough times indeed. I hope she isn't falling apart." I fought back a laugh, as I realized that when Dad had claimed his daughter had a similar expression, technically I was his daughter now.So while he was talking about Sam, he unknowingly was talking about both of his daughters.

"No, she's holding together pretty well so far. I think she was a bit inspired by you, I mean, she keeps talking about you and how you're holding yourself together pretty well. She said earlier that since you didn't break down when telling us your story, surely she couldn't bring herself to fall apart just telling her daughter that she was a pony!"

Ordinarily, I would have been comforted to know that Mom was not falling apart. A stable mother was a happy mother, and a happy mother meant a happy family. And I was part of that family, meaning that Mom being happy meant that by extension I was happy.

Except that today, a happy mother meant something in the timeline had changed, and that worried me. And paradoxes ensue. I hope I don't poof out of existence soon.

I tried to maintain a facade of being calm, and trotted slowly out into the living room. Dad followed me back, smiling as he approached his wife.

She wasn't in a state of falling apart, and was actually smiling. "So yeah, that's how my past couple of days have been. I'm glad you're taking this so well. Before I let you go, I have to ask how you kids are doing! How's Leslie?"

My hoof faltered in mid-step, and I awkwardly stumbled. She wasn't too upset, and now instead she remembered to ask about me. What will Sam say?

Sam's voice replied over the speaker phone, loudly and jarring. "Oh? Leslie? He's uh- Doing fine! A bit lonely now that Summer's started. The whole pony thing has blown right by us though, I'm a little disappointed." The tone of her voice sounded about as sure as I was that losing my magic was a good thing. Somehow my parent's believed her though, which was a rather large relief.

"Oh, that's good. Don't be disappointed, being a pony is harder than it looks. Or sounds, I guess, seeing as neither of you are ponies." Mom replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, I have to let you go. I love you dear, I'll see you in a little more than a week. Take care of your brother!"

I was still concerned, and searched my memories for what Sam had told me about the conversation between Mom and her. It had been a bitter pill to swallow for the both of them, and Sam had never had a chance to tell Mom how we were doing.

At least, I think she didn't. Maybe Sam lied? No I remember specifically Sam telling me that she hadn't had a chance to tell Mom how we were. She had said: 'I only got a little chance, right before the end, the rest of the time Mom was a bit emotional, but she remained pretty strong. She said something about a pony named Megan, who-'

And... You are now a first hand witness to what happens when something changes in the timeline. I still remembered what had originally happened, but directly thinking about it only returned thoughts from the new primary timeline.

I could only imagine what horrors might come about if I were to talk to Sam myself, and tell her not to let us fall into the void. I would probably cease existing, which wasn't exactly something I wanted to do today.

Kathy gave a smiley nod to her husband, who smiled back. He crouched down, placing the phone down back upon the cradle it belonged on. "Well you did it! And no tears either. What did I tell you, you're stronger than you think."

She nuzzled his shoulder gently, "Well I think I might cry now! That was tough. I can't believe I got through all of that." She looked over towards me, offering a gleeful look. "And I owe it all to you! I couldn't let myself feel down knowing what you went through, it just wouldn't be right! You told her how I felt right?" She asked Will, who nodded.

"Yep, I told her how you felt."

I stood in the corner of the room quietly, a bit unsure of what to say. "Uh, thanks?" Eh, good enough. Apparently I changed her destiny from tears to smiles. I wasn't sure if I should be happy that everything was working out, or sad that I changed something forever.

My mother turned away, offering Dad a clumsy nuzzling on his shoulder. He pulled her in for a hug, "You need to stop being so soft, dear. I might never stop hugging you."

"I could live with that. Hugs are nice."

I stepped on a butterfly, and I would never know what might have happened in the future if I hadn't have told them my story. What if without me, Mom had fallen deeper and deeper into depression, ruining her life forever? Change was something I definitely had to be weary of, but what if I had just permanently changed things for the better? Could anything bad really come from my mother being content?

Maybe some butterflies needed to be squished. There had to be a few bad butterflies, not all of them needed to stay intact. I had heard that some species of butterfly were poisonous even.

What if telling Sam not to go near the hole was something I had to do? A butterfly that needed to be squished? No- you've changed the timeline enough for one day. Besides, if you don't fall into that hole, then you never show up here to make Mom feel better, and then you'd never make the decision to stop Sam, and that would definitely be a paradox.

There was a big difference between changing something and creating an infinite time loop that might just destroy the fabric of the universe. Heck, for all I knew the reality holes might have been caused because some pony went and caused a paradox, and broke the universe. I might have even been that pony!

"Right. Well I'm probably going to get on my way-" I started, feeling a bit awkward in front of my parent's affection. I didn't really have anywhere to go, but maybe I could start making my way home- Wait, home is across a channel of water. Getting home is going to be just a little bit hard.

"Oh! Goodness no! You haven't anywhere to go, and we've got loads of spare space for a poor soul like yourself. Think of it as a thank you for everything you've done!" I hadn't actually been prepared for her to say no this time, surely no one would be so kind to a stranger.

"All I did was sleep on your lawn and tell you about myself." I replied, a bit overwhelmed. Was this really how Mom treated everyone? Or was she just exceptionally kind to ponies? Was my story THAT heart wrenching? I tried to butter it up a bit, but surely I hadn't gone that far. "Are you sure it isn't too much trouble? You've been awfully kind to me already." I barely had to stay in character, Mom was being a little bit out there, or maybe she was just in good spirits. Either way It seemed too late to refuse the offer now.

Dad had to be a little put off by the kindness too, but- "Of course, you have to stay! What kind of man would I be let a poor girl like you out to wander the streets? It's pretty far to get to the nearest town anyway, It's probably a good idea for you to stay for a while, young lady." -Or maybe maybe Dad had caught whatever kindness bug Mom had.

My stomach sent out a gentle rumble, letting me know that I hadn't eaten since those mini-wheats last night. That was at least seven or nine hours ago! "Well, what kind of young lady would I be to turn you down. I'll take your offer!"

I still hadn't let my true identity slip, and I didn't really have anything to lose. Except maybe my parent's trust, but they'd probably understand. What could possibly go wrong?

If Sam had been here, she probably would have informed me that there were an infinite number of things that could now go wrong, but her voice was absent.

Where had Sam gone? I hoped she hadn't been erased from time somehow. I don't think I would be able to live with myself if I had erased my sister from time. She had better call or something soon. She had been holding onto me when we had fallen into the hole, how far could she have gone?

My Dad stood up, Mom still in his arms, and he began walking in the direction of the kitchen. "Well, your stomach seems to want you to stay, for sure. Let's saunter over and see what I can cook up." Mom closed her eyes, leaning her head against his shoulder in an adorable fashion. Never in a million years did I ever expect I would find myself calling my Mother cute.

It would be fine for me to stay here for now, but sooner or later the truth would have to come out. I just hoped that Sam turned up before then. If I didn't hear from her in the next couple of hours I was going to have to go out searching for her. I probably should have been looking as soon as I noticed she was missing.

I followed Dad into the kitchen, with three worries on my mind. I was worried about what I was supposed to do now, and how long I could avoid telling my parents that I was their son. I was worried about my lack of magic, and whether or not it might come back. And most of all, I was worried about Sam.

What in the world happened to her?

---- Samantha ----

I became aware really slowly. Much slower than I usually become aware of things when waking up. I didn't remember going to sleep, but I wasn't remembering much else right now either. I tried to collect my thoughts, but it seemed like I didn't have any thoughts to collect. I was just laying there, wherever there was.

I was laying on something cold, and just a bit damp. I felt my body stir a bit, but it didn't want to move just yet. Well too bad body! I'm getting up, and figuring out where I am! I tried to shift my leg, and open my eyes. All I got was a moan, and my body telling my mind that it wanted five more minutes. All right, five more. But that's all you get. After that I'm getting up for sure.

Just five more, it wouldn't take long. I just-

-Need-

-A bit of rest-

I began to bob in and out of consciousness, not really trying to get up anymore. I was strangely comfortable despite the dampened ground, It felt like there was a soft bed of moss underneath me, which wouldn't be too weird. There was moss in the clearing with the reality hole, maybe I had just bounced right back out? Or bounced somewhere else on earth that had soft moss. Lot's of places in the world have soft moss-

As I slipped into a deep sleep, I lost my train of thought. Before long my mind was wondering why I would ever want to get up. I wasn't too cold, I could feel a ray of sunshine radiating onto my back. Why would I want to get up?

Was Aurora enjoying the soft rays of a setting sun too?

Oh right, Aurora. Where is she? How did I know that the sun was setting- No! Let's stick with serious questions only. Where is my Sister? Through the desire to know my sister's situation, I tugged my body back to being awake. I wasn't a morning person, but I certainly had an easier time getting up in the morning than my sister did. I think I do at least, I know Leslie's sleeping habits, but I have no idea about Aurora. Maybe they're completely different. It would probably be weirder if they didn't have differences.

My eyes were open, and I was laying down in something black. Or rather, my face was pressed against the ground so that I only saw blackness. I pushed myself away from the ground, the soft moss beneath me- “Wow, that is some really vivid moss,” -was unusually brightly coloured. It was still an earthy green, it was just, bright somehow. More lively.

I stood up, glancing around. I had no idea where I was.

I was in a valley of sorts, with tall and lush mountains stretching out before me to the north. At least, I think that's the north. Judging by the sunset assaulting my eyes from the west. West is left when you're facing north right? Never Eat Soggy Waffles- Yeah. North.

There were trees around, some tall pines of some variety. I didn't recognize any features of the geography around that might give me a clue of whereabouts I was in the world. To the north was tall but gentle mountains, to the west a blinding sunset, to the east was a wall of trees in my face, and to the south- “Woah! That's a view.”

From my little isolated spot of mossy ground, I could see the landscape slowly decesnding downwards. The trees mostly cleared out of the way to the south, and so what seemed like low lying flat ground was just high enough to see a magnificent sight. I mostly had the tops of trees in my vista, but out far beyond I could see great fields and meadows. Wild land as far as the eyes could see.

That was when I realized that in this case, wild land wasn't good. I didn't want wild land, I wanted civilization, I wanted help!

How had any of this happened anyway! I remembered falling into a white hole, and my sister was with me, and then-

My memory 'donked' out, and I woke up on a moss clearing. In the middle of a forested valley, miles away from any visible civilization.

“This is impossible stuff, tread carefully Sam.” I had to have been carried somewhere new by that hole, that was obvious. I guess I couldn't expect to fall into a hole in the universe and have nothing change on me.

It was sunset right now, that means either I had slipped forwards in time, or I had just been passed out for the entire day. I'd prefer the latter, seeing as time travel was simply too dangerous to consider. It had been morning still when Aurora and I had left the house, hadn't it? I could understand falling into a hole, and bouncing out hundreds of miles away. Or wherever I was. But time travel was literally one of the most serious and dangerous concepts ever theorized. If I had just become Sam, the time traveller, then I was probably going down in the history books. Assuming my time travelling hadn't destroyed history of course. I didn't want to be, Sam, the history ender. Leslie had often joked about time travel, and how much fun it could be to do it. Sure, go back in time, give yourself some winning lottery numbers. Nothing bad could happen from that could it? I mean, aside from the universe ending just from having met yourself. I hear that's a real problem for time travelers.

It couldn't help that everything in modern media told us that pretty much anything done while time travelling could result in the end of the universe.

Of course, that was mainly exclusive to when people travelled to the past. When they went to the future, the worst case scenario was usually just the end of the world that was happening anyway with or without time travel.

IF, and that was a rather big if, I had time travelled into the future, surely I couldn't be that bad off. As long as I wasn't in the past, I ran no risk of accidentally destroying everything that ever existed. Or at least that's what popular culture told me would happen. I wasn't a theoretical physicist, so my knowledge on the true nature of the subject was likely a bit limited.

What I did know for sure, was that even if I was a time traveller, or not. I currently had bigger problems in my life. One was the lack of visible signs of civilization. I didn't know many places on Earth, that looked as wild and free as the land before me. Granted, I was looking at it from really far away, if I got closer undoubtedly the fields and meadows would appear to have patterns in them, from farming and harvesting.

That still wasn't my biggest problem though. My biggest problem lay just on the horizon, just barely lit up by the light of the sun. It was a great deal of clouds. It wasn't storm clouds, no it was much worse than that.

I didn't know how I had failed to notice it before, seeing how vivid it was. Heck everything around me was vivid, I just wasn't looking very hard.

“No.” I complained, though words wouldn't change much.

The vividness of the moss had reminded me of something, though now that I was looking around, particularly at the patch of clouds just above the horizon, it seemed blindingly obvious just how much of a mess I was in.

“No no, that- Just no” It wasn't vanishing. The vividness of the land, the unfamiliar geography-

That stupid batch of impossible clouds just on the horizon. That had- “Nope! I'm done! This isn't fair!” -That had- “I'm leaving! I don't know how, but I'm going back to sleep or something, and letting this all go away.”

Ahem, The patch of clouds w- “None of this is possible, and I am sick of it. I haven't been here for even three minutes, and I'm sick of it.”

The patch of- “Furthermore! I-” I haven't really got any valid complaints. Where do I send them anyway? I'm here, might as well accept that. The rational side of my mind was all for ignoring the bulk of my problems, and focusing on surviving. Fortunately the irrational side of my mind wasn't finished.

“I'm literally just an ordinary girl! Why in the world am I here! This shouldn't even be possible, let alone happening to me!”

On the horizon lay a brilliant sight as the sun made it's way below the horizon. In the distance, patches of clouds with brilliant rainbows pouring out of them were remarkably easy to make out. It was a place I had seen few times, though it was distinctive enough to easily recognize. It looked much bigger than I had imagined.

When I mentioned the sun making it's way below the horizon, I was being literal. Science had long ago proved that the Earth rotated around the sun, and that it was really just the curvature of the earth covering up the un-revolving sun.

BUT, I wasn't on Earth anymore. I could tell, thanks to that patch of clouds. They were referred to as the floating city of Cloudsdale in the cartoon, but seeing them in real life was a bit of a shock for many reasons.

Mainly because it finally got me to realize exactly how far I had gone after falling into that hole.

“WHY AM IN EQUESTRIA!?”

Leslie

The beginning of a story is probably the best part to start one. Of course, you can always start a story in the middle, or even at the end. You might be entirely confused and have no idea what's happening, but you can certainly do it.

In the case of the story I wish to tell you, it's hard to say where to start. I could start at the beginning of my life, but I'm certain you wouldn't want to hear most of that.

The end of my life is still hopefully far away, so I can't exactly tell you about that part yet.

The events that started about three years ago, In the late June of 2013? Huh, that could be a pretty good place to start. Of course it could get confusing if you don't know at least a little bit about me.

Or if you know nothing of that event at all.

I've never really told the whole story before, but I'll give it my best shot.

Of course, it begins with myself: My name is Aurora Drift, though back while I was a human it was Leslie Keegard. I used to be a guy. What am I now? Well, something happened to turn me into a mare, a female pony. I know what that something is now, but I'll have to tell you about it later.

I was seventeen, about to enjoy my last summer before my last year of school. My parents were away for a couple weeks and I was home alone with my sister, who I actually get along with pretty well. My parents had taken the dog with them, and I was all set to start enjoying my summer vacation when it happened.

I remember that last night of being an ordinary human well, even though I didn't really do anything too memorable. They are the last human memories I have after all.

"Hey Sis?" I called down the stairs to my distracted older sister. She was busy watching a fan-animation of one of the few shows we watch together, My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. I didn't catch the name of which fan-animation it was, so I was asking now.

"No!" She called back immediately, rejecting my attempt at conversation. She really enjoyed teasing me, like, a lot. I sighed loudly and continued my retreat up the stairs. I was feeling really tired for some reason, despite it only being about 2 am.

"Okay, what?" My Sis finally called after me.

"Never mind, night Sis!" I replied with annoyance, even though I wasn't actually mad at her at all. My sister Samantha was the exact opposite of the stereotypical sister. Sure she pretended to be annoyed and unfriendly to me, but most times she was unnecessarily caring and kind. Of course, there were reasons for this: such as the fact that she had almost single handedly raised me back in the days while we were placed in custody of our neglectful Uncle. She had already looked after me for about half my life, and I guess somewhere along the way she had basically said, 'Why stop now?'

If you have a normal sister who is more true to the sibling rivalry type, cherish her for it. Living with a sister who cares for you like a mother is not a fun thing once you reach your teenage years.

Sam was a pretty standard female as far as looks go. She was just a bit taller than most, at five foot ten, and had a not so thin frame. She wasn't beefy or large, just solid. She was built like an athlete, but the only sport she really competed in was swimming. She also had a bit of a mousey nose, and long hair naturally red that she usually wore in a loose ponytail hanging over her shoulder. Her eyes were a dark blue, and usually wide and alert.

"Kay. Night Bro?" She called back uncertainly, no doubt unaware of the time. In a few seconds she would probably look at the computer's clock and decide to pull another all-nighter. Either that or she would actually go to bed, but that would be quite unusual.

After I reached the top of the stairs, and headed to my room, I heard a creak from the bottom of the stairs. Hmm, I guess Sam decided she would actually sleep tonight, peculiar.

I pulled open my door, and stepped into the darkened lavender room, closing my door behind me just in time to avoid an awkward second good-night with my sister. I didn't bother turning on the lights, since stumbling through the dark to my sizable bed in the corner seemed way funner for some reason.

I managed to kick off the cargo pants I was wearing, but my boxers fell down with them. I gave up, and slid off my shirt too. Guess I'm sleeping nude today, I'm much too tired to fight my clothing tonight.

I still had no idea why I was so tired, it was beginning to seem like I was being pulled towards my bed against my will. My eyes refused to open, but that was alright with me. My room was tidy enough that I would have no trouble navigating through the-

"Ack!" I tripped over a pile of clothes, and landed hard on my- Oops, never mind. I landed softly on my bed. I rolled under the blankets piled on top of the bed I had forgotten to make that morning, and felt all remaining energy leave my body.

No really, I was beginning to get worried. I was so very, very tired, more so than I had been in a long time. I hadn't done anything today, why was I so-

At that very moment, I passed out. I was completely unaware of the events that would follow that morning, and by then my suspicions of my hastened sleep were long gone. It would take me a rather long time to learn that that night I had been effected by- Well, I'll explain everything later.

Waking up that morning was weird. I have woken up lots of times, I might even say I'm an expert on what waking up is like since I have done it so many times. Normally I might slowly regain consciousness, or be woken up quite jarringly by an alarm clock. Other times I might even fight off sleep, keeping my eyes closed with the hopes that my dreams would stay with me. They never do, but that is besides the point.

When I woke up that morning, it was instantaneously, and without any memory of dreaming or even being asleep. I was just suddenly awake almost as quickly as I had fallen asleep. I would have stopped to ponder this for a while, had I not tried rolling my body to face the alarm clock.

As I did, a rapid fire of unfamiliar sensations assaulted me. The first thing I took note of was the flop of hair that buried my eyes. Ordinarily I would be okay with a flop of hair in my eyes, save the two reasons that currently applied. The hair didn't look like mine, it was red and pinkish. Also, I got a buzz cut less than two weeks ago, there was no way my hair could have naturally grown to a length like this.

The second thing that tickled my fancy was a feeling of, well... A tickling feeling! Everywhere! And what was that weird feeling slightly above my head? I've never had nerves delivering sensations from above my head before!

A nervous habit I have is the rubbing of my tongue along the insides of my mouth, especially against an old scar on the inside of my cheek caused by a dental accident.

My chest began to contract and my breathing sped up as I failed to find the dental scar. Where is my scar? What is this? What's going on!? I demanded to know mentally, twisting on my bed and setting off even more alarms in my body as I felt more and more unfamiliar sensations.

A sharp pain in my side as I squished something that somehow seemed to be part of myself was the last straw, and I attempted to roll out of bed in a panic to escape my confusion.

A blanket twirled around me as I fell to the floor, and I quickly found myself somewhat trapped underneath it. And now I'm stuck too? AGHHHH!!! A mental groan of frustration echoed about my mind as I tried to calm my nerves.

"Sam? Are you-" I began calling for my Sister, before I choked on my words. My voice was high-pitched! Never mind that now, focus on calling for help! Struggling in this blanket will only result in... In what? Death? Was I afraid of suffocating in my own bedroom because I had a blanket wrapped around me and I was getting uncomfortably warm?

A dose of logic helped ease my troubled mind. The calm was quickly removed as I tried to pull my leg upwards towards my chest and- AHHHH! MY LEG IS BROKEN! The joint of my knee seemed to be bending backwards, and it took me a while to notice I wasn't at all in pain. None the less, It was enough to discourage me from trying to fight my blanket for a few seconds and go back to calling for help.

"SAAAAAAAM?!?" I called out, again being surprised by the squeaky voice that escaped my lips rather than the slightly deeper shout I was used to. Is it just me, or do I sound like a girl? I asked myself. "Hello?" I asked nobody experimentally, receiving a voice that sounded quite unlike what I was used to.

I ran my tongue against the corners of my mouth again, and got the same lack of scar as had suddenly become usual. I also became aware of another predicament. My mouth and tongue stretched away from my face much more than I thought they did. I tried to feel my teeth, and realized another shocking thing.

I was completely lacking in the familiar teeth I was used to. I have no canine teeth? Actually I have no sharp teeth what so ever! Did I- Did I turn into a- A-A... I had no idea what I had become. My teeth were all wrong, and don't get me started on my mouth.

Okay, let's start figuring out what happened here. It's obvious that somehow I changed in the middle of the night, now the only question is into what? Let's start slowly, with something simple. What is different about my mouth? Well I guess to answer that I have to decide what my normal mouth is like. I reasoned, my attempts at calming down and rationalizing seemingly successful.

Okay, focus on mouth. Normal mouth is... Well, Mouthy. This mouth is... I ran my teeth around the edges once more, wondering how in the world my tongue had become so long. It felt like I could lick my nose if I tried, and that wasn't something I could normally do. My mouth itself had gone from a normal little hole I could explore to a vast tunnel that stretched forever outwards. Okay, not really, but it does seem much longer and larger than usual. What the heck happened to me? What am I?

I was pretty sure that I had stopped being human, judging by the inverted knee joints and the source of the tickly feeling, which I had realized was probably fur. It wasn't actually too ticklish, it was like having hair only everywhere and- Okay it was quite ticklish. I wondered just how long it would take for me to get used to this.

While I'm on the topic of how long things take, how long am I going to be like this? I wondered, my mind loyally giving me a clear, terror invoking response of: What if I stay this way forever? That wouldn't be good at all! I still have school to go to next year, and what is Sam going to say? And Mom and Dad? Is this happening to more than just me? Oh god, what if this is happening to everyone?

I shook my head, and the sensation of touch above it, combined with sounds of blanket contact made me realize that I probably had extended ears as well as a mouth. Longish ears? Longish mouth? Covered in fur, and backwards knee joints? Just what am I?

The realization that I was still sitting under my blanket, having given up my escape attempts and all but the tiniest movements, forced me to take action. I tried to clench my hand and- Nothing? No feeling of fingers or paws? Just a weird- What is that feeling? There was simply a lack of feeling at the end of my arm, though not quite numbness. It wasn't as though I didn't have feeling, I could still feel the blanket, which was a weird sensation considering my lack of fingers now that I thought about it.

How did I fail to realize my lack of fingers earlier? Is there any other part of my body I'm neglecting? Like, toes, or- An odd muscle twitch happened in my back as I tried to twist my body, and really weird feeling passed through my back. Or rather, outside my back, as though I had some sort of extra arm things folded out.

Too much! I'm out- I gave up taking it slow, I wanted to know what the heck I looked like. I struggled and moved my arms and legs and extra arm things every which way that I could. Soon the blanket began moving, and I found that simply laying on my back and pulling downwards hard with my arms was a very successful way to remove blankets.

If only the blanket didn't stretch on and on forever.

It finally left me, and the dim light of my room met my eyes for the first time I was properly awake that morning. The first thing I noticed was the light blue fur covering my arms. Oh good, my fur is a nice, unnatural colour. Surely that bodes well to my sanity. I thought sarcastically.

And then I noticed that instead of fingers or paws, my arms simply ended. Or at least they did from the angle I was looking at them. When I moved my arms towards my eyes, bending them so the ends faced myself of course, I noticed both that: My arms were now extremely flexible. Seriously, it really didn't seem like any normal creature should be able to bend it's forelegs like this. Of course, I was now assuming that the creature I had become was quadrupedal, if it were- No, arms/forelegs shouldn't bend like this.

The other thing I noticed was that I had hooves, and thanks to an unreasonable amount of optimism my mind decided that this was good news. Maybe I'm a pony! Like, a cartoon one! The more reasonable side of my mind interjected.

No, cartoons are pretty much known for being unreal. this is real life. How would that even happen? The odds of transforming into a cartoon pony like the ones you happen to watch a popular cartoon about would probably be bigger than the universe.

None the less, I had hooves. It was actually kinda freaky looking at them. They were rounded, and the actual substancey hoof part was hard to tell apart from the fine morning-sky blue fur. They did, in fact, look cartoony.

I moved those reality breaking forelegs away from my eyes, hoping- Well, I didn't actually know what to hope for. That I wasn't going to stay this way? That I was? That I was a pony? That I wasn't?

My feelings began to get a little conflicted, and I had no idea how to react to any of this. I flopped the extra arm things I had in frustration, and realized that those still existed, and I should probably find out what the heck they were.

Glancing to my side, I flexed a muscle in my back again. A light blue feathery thing flopped up to meet my face, and I blinked.

My mind was still processing and trying to comprehend, so I blinked yet again.

"Am you- I- Are you Serious? Am I a- What!?" My words were insufficient to describe my confusion. I, think I'm a Pegasus. More importantly, I think I'm a Pony. Most importantly- WHAT?!?

It took me several minutes for me to stop mentally stammering in confusion, and calm down enough to focus on getting to Sam for help. I still wasn't completely sure about my new form being a Pegasus pony, I could still be a weird animal thingy with wings that isn't a pony. Yeah, not likely. Everything I've seen so far points to me being a Pegasus mare.

Wait... MARE!? The mental stammering and confusion began again, as I became aware of some particular parts of me which were absent. Namely the male ones.

"No! That's just not fair!" I squeaked. I began pulling myself desperately with my forelegs, attempting to escape the room.

By the time I had crawled my way over to my bedroom door, 15 minutes had passed. I REALLY wanted to get to a mirror, desperately wanting to confirm my fears. I don't want to be a mare! I was quite happy with my own gender, being a mare means that- I shook my head viciously, trying to clear my thoughts. I had to be sure about things before I fell into a panic again.

I glared up at the door, it's handle too high for me to reach. Wait, really? Just how small did I become? Am I less than three feet high now? I know that blanket earlier was really big, but- Okay, stop it Leslie! Focus up bro, you need to get to your sister! And then... And then something! I have no plan! I realized suddenly, before shaking my head again. I had read to many fanfics where the main character simply can't deal with being a pony and sits around in their room for several chapters. I refused to let that be me, I was a man of action! Or in this case, mare of action! Assuming of course, that I am actually a mare.

Either way, my current height would simply not do if I wanted to open my door. Chances were that Sam had slept with her noise cancelling head-phones on, so I couldn't call for help either. I had to do this alone, face the challenges before me, and conquer the worl-

With a sudden creak, the door swung open quickly, bashing my nose and toppling me over. I gave a squeak, and looked up at my sister. My eyes began to tear up, and my nose felt incredibly sore.

"LESLI- Nope." She said, before stepping away and making her way down the hall. Did she just... Fail to notice the pony creature on the ground? Well, at least she left the door open. I began to wonder why she was looking for me so early in the morning, and it occurred to me that she had looked rather worried.

I brought a hoof to my poor nose, giving it a gentle rub. My nose was soft and squishy, and connected with my mouth to form a small muzzle. Oh right! I never finished doing an inventory on what my new body was like. I never even checked if I had a tail or anything.

I listened with a frown as Sam's footsteps retreated down the stairs, and then blinked as I felt another weird feeling in those things I kept referring to as ears. I couldn't be sure, but it felt like my ears were turning by themselves to follow the noise in the house.

I finally remembered that I still had a voice, no matter how feminine it was, and realized I could have called after my Sister at anytime. "Sam! Wait!" I yelled shrilly, just in time to hear the front door slam as Sam left the house.

"Okay! Never mind, I'm sure I can just, do... Something." I finished, and followed off with a heavy sigh. My Sister was gone, and she hadn't noticed me despite literally bumping into me. Though it felt more like slamming into me. I thought as I rubbed my nose again. The feel of fur and muzzle through my already weird feeling hoof caused a feeling of queasiness in my chest. I really wasn't handling this well.

Struggling to my feet, or hooves I guess, I slowly but surely managed to stand up in a quadrupedal position. No way was I gonna be like those silly fanfic characters who try to stand like a human! If I was gonna be a pony, that I was gonna do it right!

It was time... To learn how to walk.

Three attempts later, I managed to remember to remove my excessively long tail out from under my hind legs. I took the slowest step forwards in history and...

Success! I had accomplished a single step as a pony without falling over or exploding twice. One step down! About Sixty-seven more to go! Whooo! Of course, now that I had mastered the art of moving my left foreleg forwards, surely it would all be happy trotting and skipping from here on out!

About five seconds later I was on the ground once more, again struggling to stand. I carefully repositioned my ~~arms~~ front legs, and pushed the front of my body upwards. I dragged my hind legs to a manageable position, only receiving a mild carpet burn. Then, pushing down with my hind legs I was able to regain a steady posture. Or at least, steady in the sense that I was upright and not tipping over just yet. Certainly not steady in the sense that I was sure-footed or avoiding any shaking.

I took another step, moving my hind leg forwards. Gah! Inverted knees are so weird! I complained, as my ears rotated backwards in annoyance. Wait, they can do that? My ears can display my emotions for me? I felt a twitch in my hind quarters, and realized that my tail had twitched in annoyance as well.

I twisted my neck to watch my tail flick back and forth, and realized I hadn't looked at my body at all. I had been struggling towards the bathroom to find a mirror, when all this time my neck could just turn my head completely around.

My fur looked a bit like a plushie's fur, soft, fine, and tumble-dry. It was a pleasant light-blue, like the early morning sky. I noticed that there was some hair/mane hanging in front of my face now, so I gave my head a majestic toss. My mane defied me and landed splat in my face.

You know what hair? That's it. I'm shaving you all off the first chance I get. I flicked my head again, with the same result. I gave sigh, and decided to simply lift a hoof to brush my mane out of my eyes.

The world turned sideways as the hoof I was balancing on lifted to fulfill less useful purposes. THUNK! My wing crumpled under me, but fortunately I didn't break it or anything silly like that. My muzzle was far less fortunate, receiving another bump.

"Ow!" I cried out, finding my ears flattened against my head and my tail flicked itself angrily. My hooves brought themselves to my nose to surround and protect it from anymore inconsiderate bumps. Ow... Well at least now I know that balance requires focus. Lets start again, I can't get discouraged yet!

I decided to finish studying my body safely on the ground where I couldn't break my nose anymore. My mane was conveniently out of the way now, so I had an unobstructed view of my wings and flank. If I still had any doubts about being a pony, they were certainly being pushed away, hard. I certainly looked very, very, very ponyish.

I noticed for the first time just how my fur seemed to give off a slight shimmer of an outline, to appear more like a cartoon. My tail was ridiculously long, and my immediate thought was that I would have to ask Samantha to give me a hair tie. Maybe after that she could braid my mane, and-

I shook my head, blinking my eyes. Since when do I have desires to receive braids?! I spent most of my childhood avoiding them, and now I suddenly want them? I hope I'm not slowly losing my personality and becoming more feminine, dealing with being a pony is more than enough already! I tried to focus on wanting masculine things, like steak and bacon, but since I now had herbivorous teeth I probably wouldn't be eating those things anyway.

Woah. Stop the presses, I probably won't eat meat ever again. This is one thing I can stop to panic about! My panic was so extremely short lived that it never actually happened. I had always preferred pasta and sauces to anything excessively chewy like steak and roast. And though I would miss ground beef and bacon, I could probably live just fine without them. Chicken though, that was going to be a little tougher. And no more turkey dinner at thanksgiving? Or Christmas? What is the world coming to?! That was usually the point in the conversation in which my mother would tell me I was living too privileged of a life and that I had to think of the starving children in the rest of the world.

Geez Mom, I know that kids are starving elsewhere in the world, but the corrupt governments that fail to feed their people are not the fault of a single teenager having a preference to turkey. Thanks for the depression Mom, I've already donated more than you twelve times over, please stop.

Seriously though, my Mom is great. Anyway, what was I doing again? Oh yeah! Learning how to walk! I struggled my way to a standing position once more, and took a daring step forward. I failed to collapse or fall over, so I decided to take another one.

After about five careful steps of moving my tail out of the way, and focusing on one leg at a time, I managed to make it outside of my lavender room. I was now in the long hallway of victory. I slowly moved my hooves to the right as I walked, attempting to turn. Eventually I faced the direction that would lead to the bathroom mirror, and I began making my way there.

Walking seemed to be getting easier now that I had a rhythm for it. I was swinging my opposing fore and hind legs at the same time, while pushing down and forwards with the other ones. Then I'd switch it up, and rinse and repeat. "Hey! This is easy!" I said, putting a squeak of emphasis on the word easy. I was so proud of myself for walking five normal human steps that I rewarded myself by trying to accelerate.

Considering I was only moving at the pace of a snail before, my acceleration was an awful idea. I tipped and tumbled immediately, landing once again on my poor nose. "Myah!" A noise like a cross between a squee and a sneeze escaped my lips, and despite the fact I was in pain I soon began laughing at my own voice. Seriously, this is too much. Am I secretly Fluttershy now? I really can't deal with this voice! I sound way too fragile and pathetic. Not that Fluttershy is fragile or pathetic, but... I'm not either! Am I?

The mist of tears in my eyes made me realize that perhaps I now was fragile and pathetic. My nose was beginning to feel constantly sore from all the abuse, and I felt a trail of liquid slowly leak from it. I automatically licked my lips and tasted the saltiness of a bloody nose. Uh oh, Mom said she would kill me if I ever left anymore bloodstains in the carpet after that last nosebleed I had. I better double time it to that bathroom!

Not knowing how to pinch my nose and walk at the same time, I charged. Left hindleg and Right foreleg, bring forward, push with others. Switch! Go! Aaah! I recited the national anthem of panic and confusion that only people who found themselves learning how to walk for the first time in a hurry could know.

I reached the door, which was fortunately open, and wandered into the dark room. "Ha ha! I think I'm beginning to understand walking! It's not hard so long as- Never mind it's hard." I still could barely turn, and my pace left a great deal to be desired. None the less I had managed to avoid letting a single drop of blood touch the carpet.

I stumbled my way to the counter, and puzzled at how I was going to plug my nose to stop the flow of blood. I decided to try something extremely risky that would probably result in disaster. I was going... To rear up and put my forelegs on the counter.

It was around my third try when I managed to jump the front of my body off the ground so I could reach the box of tissues set upon the counter. My body was completely perpendicular to the ground, and I had never felt so unbalanced when standing up straight as right then. The box was just out of reach of my hooves, so I stretched my neck out as far as it would go. I reached my tongue out too, hoping I could nab a tissue and get it to stick.

Alas, the tissue box was simply too far away for my little pony form to obtain. I heard a door downstairs slam, and I heard Sam call my name once more.

"Sam! Help!!!" I yelled in my squeaky voice downstairs, trying to deepen my voice at the same time for whatever reason. I heard a quickening of footsteps, as Sam raced towards me. She seems a bit panicked, like she knows that something is wrong. How could she though? Are there more people in the same predicament as me? I wondered, as the footsteps drew nearer.

Wait, what will Sam think if she sees me like this? She isn't going to be very happy, Should I hide? No, can't do that, I have to- Do I have to do anything? What do I do?! the sudden feelings of anxiety pierced my chest and stomach, and my ears flattened themselves out. Why did I think that letting my Sister see me like this would be a good idea? She'll either cry, or mock me forever.

The footsteps reached the top of the stairs, and then slowed down as Sam approached the bathroom. Slowed down? Is she anxious too? A hand reached into the doorway of the bathroom, as I swallowed nervously. This was it, no time to hide or run now.

The lights flicked on, Sam whirled her head past the edge of the door frame, her eyes wide. She studied me for a few seconds, as I stood there in the sudden glare of a 100 watt bulb.

Her pale blue eyes met my... Whatever coloured eyes, I didn't know if they had changed at all, and she slowly began to laugh. It quickly dissolved into a complete giggle-fest for her, and I just stared with wide-eyes. "Uh, Sam? Care to elaborate the humor in this situation?" I requested mildly, once again not failing to notice the unfamiliar high voice invading my ears. I tried to decide whether or not I liked my new voice, and came back with no determinable answer.

Sam stopped her giggly reactions to the amusement I couldn't see, and finally said. "Well it looks like I just won a bet. You owe me about eight dollars Bro."

"What? Why?" I asked, a little curious about why she wasn't at all surprised to see me in my current state, which was as a non-human with a dripping red muzzle.

"Remember that bet I made you when I was first joining the pony fandom? I betcha eight dollars that if you ever become a pony you'd be a mare?" She replied smugly, a look of determination and victory in her eyes.

I feel the resulting face-hoof I gave her was well deserved.

"But what's going on Sis? Why is this happening to me? How far spread is it, if at all?" I was asking, after having just joined her in another round of giggles and laughter.

"Well, nobody knows just yet, but don't worry bro, you certainly aren't alone." Another smug look invaded her face, and she added, "Actually, I guess I can call you Sis now. Sweetness! I always wanted a sister."

"Hey! I'm still a guy at heart." I complained, as Sam pulled the box of tissues closer to me, and began using one to wipe the blood off of my chin.

I was now sitting comfortably on top of the toilet, in a way that probably looked awkward but was oddly relaxing and comfortable. If I turned my head to the mirror, I would be able to finally see myself in all my red-chinned glory. I almost did turn my head, but at the last second I had decided I wasn't quite ready.

"I don't think so, your heart is the exact same as a mare's heart. Thus it probably lacks guyishness." My Sister mocked, as my ears folded up in slight annoyance. "I still can't believe it! You're a mare! Ha! This is the snazziest thing since climbable trees." There she went again with one of her crazy Sammy sayings. She slipped into laughter again.

"Hey! I have to have some guy left in me!" I retaliated. It's all true though, I'm probably pretty much 100% female in every way except my personality and memories now. I realized, and I felt my head tipping forwards as I glanced at the ground. I didn't want to be a girl, I was fine with being a guy, I was used to it! Why did this have to happen, now I'm going to be stuck as this thing. I didn't really want to be a pony either, even if I was a Pegasus! I had been living my life fine as a human, how am I supposed to go to school and- Oh my god- HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET A GIRLFRIEND! WHAT THE HECK! This wasn't fair at all. There were still so many things in life I had never had a chance to enjoy, and now my life had basically ended.

I'm pretty sure I felt a wetness around my eyes, and I'm certain that my nose was trying to run since I just sniffled. My parents weren't going to like it either, in fact I'm certain that SAM didn't like it. I looked up at her quickly, slightly surprised at just how blurry my vision was getting. Was I crying? Sam was no better, looking away from me and biting her nails nervously. I noticed just how frizzy her normally perfectly in place hair was, and it wasn't hard to tell she was feeling a great deal of stress now that her moment of laughing at me was over. My eyes teared up even more at the thought of causing my Sister such trouble.

Whatever, let my eyes drain out! I didn't have any use for them anyway. My life is over, I'm just a pony now! What's the point of caring anymore, everything I knew and loved just flipped upside down and fell off the trampoline.

I felt my body heave as I gave an inaudible sob. Another soon followed. "I'm sorry Leslie, I- I don't know what to do." My Sister informed me, before leaving the room.

Come back!? Let me know I'm still your brother? Anything except ABANDON ME? I wanted to shout, but my voice box was otherwise occupied by my sniffles and quiet moans.

As far as I was concerned, I just died. Leslie Keegard had died, and I was the empty shell that stayed behind.

My ears were glued to the back of my head, and I reached a hoof up to try and pull them off. I didn't want pony ears, or pony anything! So many other bronies would write stories and talk about how great it would be to turn into a pony.

It sucks! Life ends, you lose all hope! You think it will be all fun and rainbows, but seriously! If you actually stop being yourself, and just turn into something else, with no control over it and no idea if it will ever end, it just- just-

Sam had come back, and had pulled me into a hug. She hefted me up over her shoulder with ease, and I found myself burying my face into her back. "I can't do this Sis- I just can't." I mumbled into her shoulder with a whine.

It's terrifying, that's the word I'm looking for, I decided, squeezing my eyes shut and just enjoying the warmth of my sister's embrace.

I felt a weird tug on my tail, as Sam fidgeted with it. I ignored it, still lacking a care in the world. Unfortunately not caring didn't mean I wasn't curious, or maybe I still had a little bit of care in me. I turned my head, forcing my bleary eyes open once more. Sam had tied a royal blue hair tie around my tail, so it held together in a loose way. I probably wouldn't be tripping on it anymore.

I noticed Sam lifting a pair of scissors to the bottom length of my tail, and for some reason I can't explain I resisted it. "No, let's keep the long tail. And the mane. Leave those alone Sis." My very strained voice asked of her. I felt a shrug, as Sam returned the scissors to her pocket.

I glanced up at my reflection for the first time, and confirmed that I was indeed a cartoon pony that did not belong in the world as I knew it. I had a rounded face, though the bottom part of it was currently smeared with a hint of red. Two impressive ears jutted out of the top of my head, splitting apart the messy pink and red mane that flowed around me. I had a smallish muzzle, that I have to say looked somewhat adorable.

But the most attention grabbing feature of my new body had to be the contrasting purple eyes that made up most of my face. Like seriously, I knew pony eyes were huge, but this was ridiculous.

Right now those eyes were half closed, and rather reddened by tears and sadness. I closed them, hating to see a pony that looked that cute in distress. Did I just call myself cute? Yeah, I guess I did. Weird. I opened my eyes again, blinking away the last few tears.

I went quiet as my attention turned to my hindquaters, as I realized I was a blank flank. Or maybe magic tattoos that show a secret special talent just aren't real.

Samantha noticed my quietness, and gave me a gentle squeeze. "Will you live bro? You stopped crying, are you feeling better? Ish? At all?"

I blinked again, trying to get used to the fact that the cute pony in the mirror was myself. She was even more adorable when she wasn't crying, or at least crying in a non-adorable way. Stop looking cute reflection, you're making me happier. I silently told it, to no avail. Cute ponies had always completely obliterated any forms of sadness or displeasure I had ever felt. It was part of the reason I was so obsessed with Fluttershy for the longest time.

I gave one last experimental blink, before making a silly face. "Ha, yeah. Maybe I can do this after all. I don't know why, but I think I feel less hopeless." I admitted softly.

I closed my eyes one last time, deciding on attempting to make one last face to motivate me to push on past all the obstacles in my way. When I opened my eyes, I was met with such a look of determination that it quickly faded into a look of awe.

Leslie Keegard the human may be gone, but Leslie the pony is alive, and she has something to live for. She will fight, so that the poor mare in the mirror doesn't have to cry anymore. It was an odd resolve, I admit. I was fighting to be happy, and it made me happy somehow, despite being a bit of circular reasoning and not really resulting in anything.

But none the less, I wanted to keep going, and see what may lay ahead. And hopefully the look of determination reflected my real determination to get there.

Of course, I hadn't yet learned anything of what was truly going on, or even gotten used to my body yet. I had simply gotten past the first of many obstacles, but it was perhaps one of the most difficult ones. It was the obstacle of self, and being able to accept that I wasn't going to be human again. In all honesty I can't remember how I was able to overcome this by simply looking into my own eyes.

It may have been the fact that I didn't yet associate that pony as myself, and was able to pretend I was fighting for somepony else who simply looked sad, and I couldn't bare to see that.

Author's Note

Please point out any flaws or errors you notice, and feel free to suggest ideas and provide feedback~!

Hopefully unlike my other stories I will actually work on this one and not get stuck in a perilous unending writer's block. I plan to release at least one chapter per month, hopefully more. We'll see how it goes.

Manes and Magic

Sam finally got around to releasing me from the hug, and I inhaled gratefully as my ribs ceased squishing against my internal organs. She gently placed me on the counter, while I turned to stare deep into my reflection. I leaned forward, gazing intently into those eyes, while a part of me wondered if any of this was even real.

Uh, yeah. It's real. I know because- I bumped my sore nose/muzzle against the glass of the mirror, and pulled away quickly. Geez! Did I break that poor thing? My nose rejected the physical contact, feeling as though it had just been slammed into another door despite the fact I had only gently bumped it. It was still quite sore, and a rather consistent reminder that if this was a dream it was definitely a really painful one.

I carefully gave it a rub with my right forehoof, but another shock of pain retaliated against me. Okay! Ow! Why did I think it would hurt less if I poked it with a hoof rather than a mirror?

I glared at the mirror, and it glared right back. The growling face that met my eyes brought a slight chuckle out of me. I pulled the largest smile I could, while trying to observe just how expressive a pony's face could be. Turns out they are RIDICULOUSLY expressive.

"So, how does it, uh, feel?" Sam asked me, fiddling with something in one of our bathroom drawers. I pondered my answer momentarily, trying to flex my wings and finding I had no idea how I had flopped them around earlier.

"Feel? Well, I don't feel too different I guess. I'm still me, I just have a completely different everything, it's like-" I stopped, no explanation forthcoming for exactly how it felt to suddenly find everything changed. It was like- "Oh! It's like you've been working with two buttons all your life, and you suddenly have to get used to the N64 controller, there's a huge whack of new features, and you don't expect you'll ever find a way to make your thumbs comfortable."

"I- Okay. But, I'm- What? Good analogy I guess, but it- I guess it works?" She mumbled, as I puzzled over how I could come up with a way to clarify any better.

I pouted gently as I brought my hooves up to my eyes once more. I didn't even have thumbs anymore, how could I possibly make them comfortable? "Or maybe those thumbs are my knee joints, though I guess thanks to the way equine bodies work I still have my normal ones they are just higher up on my body. Even though I'm smaller. Or- Oh! Or maybe the thumbs are my tongue? This mouth is huge sis, Like, seriously." And don't get me started on hearing a voice an octave too high whenever I spoke.

I looked over at her, hoping she would understand somehow. She gave a nod, but her head was tilted with confusion. "Okay, so it's very... Different. Good to know." She replied, holding something mysterious behind her back. She closed one of our bathroom drawers with her hip. I neglected to notice this, and went back to staring at my reflection and wondering how to explain my situation to her.

Samantha drew closer to my reflection, holding a black object that looked like a handle with an orange rimmed ellipse attached to it. There were little spikes all over it, and my mind tried to process it's name rather than telling me to run like it usually did.

"Surprise hairbrush!" She attacked me, as she swung the now recognizably dangerous hairbrush towards me, and I- "Make sure not to tug too hard, please?" I found myself saying.

Woah woah WOAH! Hold up, since when do I say things like that? I found myself mentally questioning, not knowing why I was expecting some sort of answer. When I spoke the words, I felt- Well, I didn't really feel any different than usual, I just felt a feeling of- Something? I have no idea what that was! It just didn't seem quite like I was really the one saying it?

Most of the time I at least somewhat thought of what I was going to say. This time the words had just spilled out of my mouth like a glass bottle of the opposite sort of thing of ketchup.

Even Sam was a bit surprised. She stopped in the middle of her assault, taking a step back and leaving the hairbrush dangling in my mane. "Are you- Sure you're my brother? I mean, I guess I never asked you for sure. Are you just some random pony that wandered into my home?" She chided, a smug smile of sarcasm stuck to her face.

I shook my head quietly, a bit unsettled by my sudden outburst of... Not-me-ish-ness. "I-I'm pretty certain I am. My name is Leslie Keegard, and- Well, I guess I'm more like a sister now, don't call me Sis though."

Sam gave a short laugh, "Tee hee! Sis... Anyway, don't do that again, You're supposed to be the annoyed little brother, what happened to that? You used to run away from hair brushes because you thought Shagginess looked cool. Seriously, the heck?"

"I... Don't know. Seriously, I think I'm losing it." She gave a slight chuckle, and retrieved the brush from my mane. I gave a fake and faltering smile, as I didn't want her to think I was seriously doubting my mind. Which I was, No really, what was that?

I didn't expect to be quite so worked up about a slip of the tongue, so I finally shook my head and tried to forget about it all. This proved to be a bad idea, as the hairbrush was now being held stationary by my Sister's hand. "Yeouch!" I squeaked, my vocal capabilities surprising me once more.

Sam tugged my mane one last time. "Okay, open your eyes! I think I've done it!" She had told me to close my eyes earlier, as apparently my new mane style was to be a surprise. I had considered protesting, but apparently some part of me was okay with my mane being brushed, so I had gone along with it.

I slid my eyelids open, and took in the red and pink... "Oh, well I wasn't quite expecting that." She had done barely anything with my ~~bangs~~ forelocks, but the flow of hair that had been trailing down my back and onto the floor was now tucked into a much shorter section of braids that fell down my left side. It was long enough that Sam had found it necessary to fold it upwards on itself, and then back down again. With all that excess hair it was a impressively thick braid.

"So? Any comments? Concerns? Anything for the Sammy bank of complaints?" My Sister asked, poking me in the side trying to get some sort of response.

"Its... Nice Sis. Thanks?" I replied mildly. My normal quips and teases just weren't visiting me today, so evidently Sam's desired response was not forthcoming.

"Nice?" She repeated, her face adopting a worried expression. She stood up and turned away from me, repeating herself, "Nice?"

I offered her a shrug, "Well what do you want from me? It is pretty nice. You did a fair job, though I think if you had used lime green hair ties it would have offered a much nicer contrast with my mane."

Under my fur I felt a shiver of goosebumps. It happened again! I had no control over what I was saying just now! What was going on? Was I still in control of my body completely, or was there some other pony trapped in here with me that was speaking for me? I'm a bit reluctant to be sharing my body with someone, or rather somepony. So if you're in there somewhere then reveal yourself! Or something! I'm not quite sure how somepony would go about revealing themselves mentally in a shared body-mind situation thing.

No answer came, so I sat staring at myself in the reflection, trying to understand why I enjoyed having a braided mane so much. Something to do with Mother never letting me grow out my mane when I was younger?

WHAT. Where did that thought come from?! Seriously? It didn't feel like an idle thought, but instead like a memory of something that occurred while I wasn't paying attention; incredibly vague but still definite enough to know it had happened. It obviously couldn't have been a memory of mine, I didn't grow up with a mane. I also didn't grow up with my Mother, I grew up with my Sister and lame excuse for an uncle. So where did my memory come from?

Was I really... Sharing my mind and body with somepony?

Samantha's head was tilted as she stared directly at me, her expression quite serious this time. "Okay, what did you do with my brother?" She was evidently a bit curious as to why the brother she had told time and time again not to wear mismatching socks was now telling her which color of hair ties would look good in his hair.

Or mane, whatever. I shouldn't have to get everything right, I've only been a pony for less than an hour. I told myself, beginning to wonder why in the world I was even trying to use correct pony terminology.

"I'm... Starting to wonder about that myself," I responded with a pause.

"Right, that's reassuring." Sam rolled her eyes, before searching through the drawers for the requested bright green hair ties.

I finally got around to standing up, kinda, standing up with four legs is pretty weird. I slowly trotted in place, turning myself around, before glancing downwards at the floor. It was about three feet away from me, and if I had my regular body I would have had no hesitation before jumping down. Instead I found myself trapped on the narrow ledge that was my bathroom counter.

"Found one! C'mere you." Sam chimed with a smile, reaching towards me. My usual brother instincts apparently decided to strike, and I reflexively took a step forwards.

Straight off of the counter.

As my body began to drop, my wings shot out to their fullest wingspan, wavering slightly as they attempted to keep me upright. My tail twitched as well, helping my balance in a similar way. My forelegs stretched out to the floor, while my hind legs quickly bent inwards and then outwards, kicking the counter and pushing me away towards a clear landing spot.

My forelegs came in contact with the linoleum flooring, bending slightly to absorb the shock. My hind legs followed suit soon after, and I found myself crouched on the ground, breathing quietly but quickly as a small surge of adrenaline assaulted me.

Oh. Apparently Pegasus pony reflexes are excellent at dealing with short falls. I considered silently, while I tried to take in the fact that I had not even felt the shock of an impact. My landing had been silent too, making me wonder just what my hooves were made of. I would have thought that I would have made some sort of noise, at least a plop, but instead my entire ordeal was eerily quiet.

I stood myself up, before lifting my head and rotating my neck to see how Sam was reacting. Her eyes were wide, and the hair tie she had been holding was dangling out of her mouth after she had raised her hand to it in surprise and concern.

I stood there for a few seconds, trying to understand what had just happened. "So, I guess you're not fragile, despite your size." Sam commented, with a nod.

"Do you think we should be writing these facts down or something? You know, for science?" I asked, tentatively lifting a hoof to see if I had simply gone numb. Nope, still have all my feeling, my hooves are just supreme shock-absorbers.

"We could, but I don't think that would be... Necessary. There's all the other- Oh! I totally forgot to tell you. Oops." Samantha said, leaving me to wonder what she had forgotten.

"You forgot to tell me what exactly?" I questioned. It wouldn't be necessary to take notes on the anatomy and physical capabilites of a real life cartoon pony?

"Uh... So yeah. You aren't the only one who woke up as a pony this morning. There are about... A lot of people." She claimed.

Well, I couldn't say I wasn't expecting it. Well, technically I totally wasn't, but I had already given up on expectations earlier. I hadn't really thought about how the world would react to me yet, but knowing that I'm not the only pony around certainly made my prospects of being re-accepted by society certainly more plausible. "Just how many is 'A lot'?" I squeaked, my voice defying me once more.

"Well, A news report came in this morning. Supposedly there are at least ten-"

"Only ten? Okay, well thats..." Was that good or bad? I wasn't quite sure. The more the merrier? No. If there a great deal of people then surely a bunch of humans are going to react in erratic ways, and-

"Thousand..." Sam finished. A moment of silence passed between us, as I slowly breathed in and then out.

"Wow. Okay." I said simply. No seriously, how do I react to that? I took another breath, and realized I was breathin normally. Or was I? Yes, yes I am. Breathing is all clear, you are free to panic.

But I didn't panic. The number didn't seem real, I literally couldn't comprehend something like this. Ten thousand people just turned into ponies? Like that? Following that thought, I began to wonder how this had even happened.

"Was it just people who were-" I began to ask.

"No. All sorts of people, not just fans of the show. The only thing they've had in common so far is that they were young and usually nice people. No really, I don't even know how they determined that but apparently the great majority are friendly people." Sam informed me with a grim look, before smiling and adding, "Making me wonder how this could have ever happened to you!"

"Hey! Whatever Sis, I'm nice!" I whined my retaliation, my tail flicking back and forth on its own while my ears flopped downwards.

Interesting, so my tail and ears will express emotion even if i'm not truly feeling the emotion? My tail and ears are sarcastic too? My body is neat! I discovered, my annoyed expression giving way to glee at being so expressive.

Wait, i'm losing track of my thoughts, there are at least 10,000 people who were suddenly ponifed in the world. How? Why? What will my parents think? The final thought caught me off-guard. I'd have to tell my parents that their son turned into a mare sooner or later, how would they react?

I gave my nose an anxious lick and- Ew... My blood is still dried on my nose. I should wash off or something. "Okay, so there are now live ponies in the world. Sounds like a typical summer lies ahead, don't cha think?"

"Yep, extremely typical."

"Yep."

We left it at that, as we stood silently reflecting on the situation. Or at least, I was reflecting on it. I don't know what Sam was thinking. I turned around and headed for the bathtub, careful of my hooves and hopeful I would eventually learn to be confident in my walking.

"Hey sis, can ya bring me some clothes? I-"

It was around this time a terrible realization hit me. AND... I've been naked this whole time. In front of my sister.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I cried out, leaping desperately for the bathtub. HOW COULD I NOT HAVE NOTCIED THIS EARLIER?!?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER?

I landed on the shower mat, my hooves sliding slightly but not quite slipping out from under me. "Why didn't you tell me I was naked?!" I shouted at my sister, whose eyes were wide with shock due to my sudden leap and shout. I slammed the shower curtain behind me, but then gently pulled it open again with one hoof.

Sam's surprised expression dissappeared, "Oh! That's what the screaming is about? I thought you stepped on a lego brick or something! Don't scare me like that Les!"

"Don't scare you? Don't scare me! I've been in the nude for ten minutes beside you, and you didn't even say a word!" I hadn't been naked around my sister for at least ten years now, so I wasn't quite sure what the proper reaction was supposed to be.

"I- What? Les, I've seen you naked before. You do have a memory right? It's only been eleven years. You're family, I don't care at all."

"Well I care! This is a horrific invasion of my privacy, I demand you leave my bathroom right this instant!" I proclaimed, my tail whipping back and forth.

Sam tilted her head with an incredulous look, "Seriously? Okay. Whatever 'Sis'. Good luck turning the knobs with no fingers by the way." She stood up and strutted out, giving me a parting shrug and a wave.

"Don't call me 'Sis'!" I called after her, before slamming the curtain closed once more. I turned to face the knobs of impossibility, my face blank.

I took a tentative step forward, and jammed my right forehoof towards the cold water knob. It was thicker than the hands I was used to, and got stuck between the faucet and the knob. I tugged and twisted, but the knob itself was too slippery to turn.

Okay, let's do this the fun way- I thought, raising my other hoof to try and turn the knob. I managed to get my hoof against the wall in time to keep my balance, but without the usual grip I usually have it was proving impossible.

Well, then fine. I'd rather sit here being dry than have to call my sister back. It was a mutual agreement between siblings that going to ask for help after you said you could do something was the greatest shame, therefore I had already cut off my greatest ally.

No matter how I twisted and nudged my hooves, the knob would simply not budge. Well, actually it did budge, but I budged it the wrong way and now it was even harder to turn.

Don't give in Leslie, you have only to turn a metal object literally built to turn. How hard could it be?

Okay, pretty hard apparently. I opened my mouth once more, attempting to clasp my teeth around the thing to turn it. The metal knob tasted somewhat like the blood still plastered to my upper lip, and worse than that it still wasn't budging.

Should I just give in? I've been at this for fifteen minutes? It's obvious that unless I something magical happens, this knob ain't turning.

Magic? Is that an option? I had been sarcastic, but after I thought about it I wondered if it might be applicable. I was a cartoon pony now, so-

No. Magic is not real, be rational. I told myself.

I took a step back, and sat down on the unfortunately dry floor of the porcelain tub. Or is it acyrillic? I thought I read something about that one time. I shook my head away from the bathroom thoughts, and looked longingly past the curtain. I would probably have to call Sam for help, and then she would be all smug, and I would-

Curtain. How did I close the curtain, with hooves?

I reached a hoof up to it again, and tried to pull it aside. Nothing happened, except the curtain slid around my hoof. I couldn't budge it at all from my low area in the bottom of the tub.

But I closed it earlier... Twice. I pondered over this, trying to remember what I had done differently. I poked and prodded the curtain again, in a slight bout of confusion.

What did I do? And how? I questioned, If I could do it again, it'd be... Well, it would be magical! Did I accidentally use some sort of pony hoof magic when I was tugging on the curtain earlier? I had always wond- Okay, maybe not always- I had at least at one point wondered how ponies did anything with their hooves. They were shown several times in the show as having been able to grab things with their hooves that wouldn't be physically possible.

I gave one final poke to the curtain, before locking the crook of my... Wrist? Does this count as a wrist? I'm gonna pretend that this is a wrist. I pulled sideways, taking several steps in the same direction. The curtain slid open, and I revealed-

"Giving up?" Sam asked, sitting on the counter with crossed arms.

"I- I'm not- I'm still naked! Get out of here!" I reached for the curtain, trying to pull it closed once more. It danced around the tip of my hoof, no matter how I tried to flex the fingers I didn't have any more.

Okay, no luck there. Maybe my hoof was randomly sticky, and it was all a fluke? There was something missing that was there before. Was it a certain magic muscle I wasn't flexing properly? Was it that my magic curtain-closing hooves were powered by mild-frustration at my sister that wasn't in full bloom right now? Was it simply that- I didn't believe, and that I had to use the power of friendship to-

It was probably a fluke.

I gave up with a sigh, closing the curtain in shame as I bowed my head and sighed.

I opened them again with slight shock, trying to memorize my sensations and refusing to release my grip. A slight warmth, well not really warmth but- I don't really know how to describe it. A feeling of, energy and power? How do you describe something indescribable? Surely there is a word for the sensation as the non-feeling flowed through my body and out my hoof, and- Oh! The word is indescribable! I already said it. huh.

It was a sensation I wasn't at all used to to be sure, having never felt it before in my life. I could sense something new inside of me, not really warm or cold, The only feeling I got was, alive.

It felt magical.

Sam was gaping slightly, "Uhhhh." She stammered quietly, evidently unsure of what to say. Words weren't exactly spewing from my mouth either, but I definitely knew how to feel about it.

I willed for the curtain to follow my hoof as I tugged it to the side, and the entire curtain- Flopped backwards and then stood still. That's a no go? Why? What did I do differently? The feeling of excitement and energy seemed to slip away.

"Sis, you just. Did you just- You must have. Did you? Yes. DO IT AGAIN!" She stammered and then shouted, processing what she had just witnessed. She lunged towards me, and I found her hands pulling hooves back to the curtain as she tried to reproduce the magical effect.

"I don't think think it works like tha-"

"I DON'T CARE THAT WAS MAGIC!" Her face lit up as she resumed standing, "Real magic! That's not supposed to be a thing! Leslie, do you know what this means?!" She asked with far too much excitement in her voice for me to determine a proper response.

"Something something change history?" I tilted my head. For some reason magic being real or not had never really been a big thing to me.

Sam didn't even bother answering as she dashed from the room. More than likely she was off to find a notepad and pencil to take notes. Sam always liked taking notes.

So why didn't she take notes when she discovered I was a pony? Was there so many people effected that note-taking would be redundant? Would everyone else and their cat have already taken every interesting note possible?

I shook my head, ignoring Sam. Even if it didn't matter if magic was real or not, it was still pretty cool now that I had a chance at performing it. Performing it? Using it? Controlling it? Engaging in it? Commanding-

I gave up trying to find the right verb, and went back to focusing on trying to close my curtain.

What did I do the first time? Was it the emotion, the focus? The lack of focus?

By the time Samantha had come back into the room, I had opened the curtain and closed it twice. I still had no idea how I had done it at all.

I closed my eyes, trying to see if I could see something. Something like... I don't have any idea. I moved my hoof in the same way I just had five seconds ago, and tried to pay complete attention to all my senses. I thought I saw a slight flash of light, but it was just my eyelids flickering.

"Any luck- You DID IT?" Samantha exclaimed loudly as she approached the tub. Noticing the moved curtain as she came into the room

"And I have no idea how!" I replied happily, my eyes open once more. I looked at the curtain in frustration, for following my will but not revealing how my will could possibly have any effect on the physical world.

I moved my hooves once more, not quite understanding what I was doing that allowed the curtain to move. I wasn't making any mental grasps or anything, my hoof was just doing it semi-automatically. I wanted it to happen and so it did.

"Hang on! Do that again!" Sam stopped my curtain mid-close, ripping it from my "grasp." She leaned closer to my face, claiming, "I need to see something."

Without breaking my gaze, I reached my left foreleg towards the curtain. I flexed some sort of magic muscle or something, and began pulling the curtain closed slowly, the plastic sticking to my hoof as if it were a magnet.

"Aha! Your eyes change color when you do that!" Sam announced.

My concentration broke, and the plastic sheet flopped silently away from me. "My eyes change color? What do you mean?" I inquired. What the heck do eyes have to do with magic?!

"Well, they kinda... Glow a bit. Like, a slightly brighter purple." She explained. "I guess pony eyes are the thing that depict magic use for non-unicorn ponies?" She jotted something down on her notepad, and I noticed it already had half a page of writing.

Well, it had been shown several times In the show That pony eye's glowed during strenuous use of magic, So that definitely seems legit... Or at least it would, if not for the fact that this was real life and not a semi-famous cartoon about magical equines. Then again, nothing about today follows the usual rules of real life anyway, so I might as well toss logic to the wind.

Sam finished her idle scribbles, and looked up at me. I blinked, still naked but beyond caring about that silly issue by now. Though I would probably start caring again all over when I went outside. Outside? Can I even go outside like this? What if-

I abandoned the train of thought, knowing how often I derailed when I followed those. Worried of outside could wait.

"So let's recap everything I know so far, and then everything you know so far." Sam spoke, standing up dramatically and making me feel eight times shorter than I was used to.

"People are ponies, this mess is happening all over. My Bro is now my Sis, and a Pegasus. I'm still human. Life still isn't fair. Your turn?"

"Being a Pegasus is pretty cool. I am currently rubbing this in your face." I raised a hoof and booped her on the nose for emphasis. "I am now going back to attempting to take a shower, get out of my mane, silly human."

I attempted to close the shower curtain dramatically, but something way cooler/freakier/interesting happened instead. The shower curtain closed itself, while I was overwhelmed by a sudden sensory overload.

My vision appeared a tad purple

I swear I could taste pomegranate, though I have no clue why.

Nothing interesting happened with my nose, though it was still clogged with dried blood.

I heard Sam gasp a little, but that's it for what I heard.

The first four senses I usually used were mostly uninteresting. It was the sense of feeling and a new sense I wasn't entirely aware I had until then that were the most interesting.

My entire everything was dripping with the feeling of liveliness and energy I had felt earlier, only about tenfold this time. Everything from the tip of my nose to the last hair of my tail seemed to be something more.

Speaking of something more...

I could now perceive something entirely new. It wasn't any one thing, in anyone spot. It was everywhere, and in some of the most vibrant of colors I could understand. It was static and it flowed, it was light and it was dark.

I would have loved to described it endlessly, but it went and disappeared not even a half second after I began to know of it.

More to the point, the curtain was now closed, the taps had turned themselves, and a stream of water now lightly pummeled my split pink-red mane.

"Wait, what?" I heard myself and my Sister ask at the exact same time.